


Avenger Ships

by A_Unique_Username



Series: Avenger Ships [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Breaking Up & Making Up, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Insecurity, Jealousy, M/M, Misunderstanding, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sex Pollen, Starker, Steve Rogers is Not a Virgin, Stony - Freeform, Stucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2020-08-23 19:07:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 43,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20247823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Unique_Username/pseuds/A_Unique_Username
Summary: A series of oneshots featuring ships from the Marvel Universe. Mostly Stony, Starker, and Stucky. Open for requests.2: Stony - Tony makes assumptions after a butt dial3: Starker - Peter doesn’t like fireworks4: Stony - Tony is overprotective5: Stucky - Bucky’s had a bad day6: Stony - Why is Peter in Steve’s bed?7: Starker - Peter isn't a sugar baby8: Stony - Steve is not innocent9: Stony - Steve isn’t used to gay PDA10: Stony - Steve and the ice bucket challenge11: Stucky - Steve and Bucky accidentally out their relationship12: Stony - Steve gets judged for his version of the pledge of allegiance13: Stucky - Bucky sees what Steve did for him while he was gone14: Romanogers (Sort Of) - Steve is not a virgin15: Stony - Steve likes Bed, Bath, and Beyond16: Stuckony - obligatory sex pollen fic17: Stony - Steve sleeps on the floor18: Stucky - Steve sees something disturbing when confronted with his fears19: Starker - Tony makes assumptions about Peter20: Starker - Tony learns Peter was abused21: Stony - Deserum’d Steve22: Stony - Tony doesn't like concern





	1. Introduction

Hi, Marvel Fandom!

Here are my oneshots for the Marvel Fandom! They’re all ships between established characters in the Marvel Universe!

I love input about my writing whether it's bad or good. If you notice something I could improve, go ahead and let me know because I'm always trying to be better.

Feel free to request stuff as well! I do not do incest, pedophilia, graphic r*pe, or glorified self-harm. I also don't write about the actors. I love Marvel and all their casting choices, but I find it rude to make stuff up about a real person's life. 

I suck at warnings, but expect swearing and (maybe) smut. I WILL put warnings if I reference abuse (sexual or otherwise) or mental illness. I realize I said above that I wouldn't write about graphic r*pe or glorified self-harm, but I mean that I won't write about those things in a good way, if that make sense. If it's something a character is struggling with or getting over, green light. If it's posed to make something like r*pe sexy, red light. PLEASE let me know if I need to add anything else to the list of must warns. I want you guys to enjoy yourselves!

I have the same stories under the account @A_Unique_Username_ on Wattpad so if you prefer that platform, head on over!

Thanks!


	2. Butt Dial (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve accidentally butt dials his boyfriend, Tony, at the pet shelter which results in misunderstandings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **BTW, after rereading one of my works, I thought I should probably warn you guys that none of my pics are beta read. Hell, I don't even reread some of them. I just write whatever comes to my head and *post*. Feel free to point out errors. Hopefully they aren't too annoying.

“You’re the cutest boy I’ve ever seen. Isn’t that right Charlie? You’re going to be a good boy for me, right?” Steve’s gentle voice played over the speakers in Tony’s room. “That’s it. You’ve got it!” 

After coming home from a particularly boring meeting, Tony was touched that Steve had thought to leave him a voicemail. Tony hated traveling to the satellite branch of Stark Industries in LA without his loving boyfriend, but the daily calls made it bearable. He plopped down on the bed and requested that JARVIS start the playback.

That’s when he heard Steve’s gentle, loving voice. His heart wrenched when he realized the tone hadn’t been directed at him. Steve had clearly made this call by accident while he was off cheating with this ‘Charlie’ behind Tony’s back. The voice resonated throughout the otherwise silent room, surrounding him. Every word stung. Tony knew he should be furious, but his mind was filled with insecurities. “Of course I wasn’t good enough for Captain America.” He remembered all the times he left Steve to sleep alone as he tinkered in the lab, all the times Steve looked up at him with a disappointed expression because he had to leave for work, all the times he’d been to afraid to share his feelings and created misunderstandings. He was a hot, emotionally-constipated mess. Pepper knew it and now Steve knew it. Tony cried himself to sleep, but once he awoke, he ditched the pity party and gave in to rage.

~Earlier in the Day~

“They’re all so adorable!” Steve nearly squealed as he intently watched a kitten paw at a ball of string. Clint laughed at loud from his spot by the Pit Bull mix across the aisle. “Every time I come here I have to restrain myself from adopting every animal in here. I love on a farm, but I think Laura will kill me if I bring in a sixth dog. The excuse that Lucky needs friends only stretches so far.” 

“How do you think Tony would feel about pets in the tower?”

“He’d probably pretend to dislike them at first, but eventually fall in love. You could definitely convince him: he’s so smitten he’d do anything you asked.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m coming back here. Thanks for showing me.” Steve turned to the volunteer coordinator at the shelter, “I’ve cleaned the litter boxes. What do you need me to do next?”

The middle aged woman gave him a soft smile and pointed over at a tiny puppy cowering in the corner of his cell. “This little guy’s name is Charlie. He was just brought in yesterday. He was cold and completely alone so he’s been a bit skittish. Seeing as how you have a way with animals, can you attempt to bottle feed him?” 

Steve’s heart melted. He didn’t even notice his phone turning on in the back of his jeans as he crouched down to help the little guy.

~Back to Tony~

The flight back to the tower was awful. Tony’s mind was ricocheting between intense anger and gut wrenching pain so he never managed to fall asleep. He was absorbed in the former when he stomped into the tower. Steve happily ran over to greet him, “How was your business trip, Tony? I’ve missed you.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you really missed me.” Tony snapped bitterly. 

Steve stopped in his tracks and shot a confused look at his lover’s aggravated mood. 

“If you really missed me, you wouldn’t have run off with another man. Is he younger, prettier, more available?” Tony exploded.

“Tony, I -“

“Don’t even try to make excuses Rodgers. I guess even America’s golden boy has his problems. Just be grateful I’m giving you a week to move out.” 

“You’re breaking up with me?” Steve’s tone was flat. He was in too much shock to even process the situation. 

“Even I have enough self-respect to dump someone who cheated on me. You can come back for missions though. Don’t worry, JARVIS won’t sic the arsenal on you.” 

Steve couldn’t move from his spot as Tony ran upstairs, turning his head to hide the tears that had started to leak down his cheeks. 

“Tony’s breaking up with me.” Steve whispered in disbelief as he crumpled to the floor. He eventually picked himself up and made his way to his bedroom. “Why does he think I cheated? I would never do that to him?” Steve petted the puppy curled up in his bed as he sobbed.

The next day, Steve discovered that Tony had revoked his privileges to enter the lab or master bedroom or any of the communal areas. He could only go to his room or outside. He spent the entire day leaving messages for JARVIS to pass on, but based on the radio silence, he assumed Tony was deleting them. 

The day after, he pled with the AI for hours to just let him see Tony for an hour, but it’s orders were strict and Steve’s attempts were all unsuccessful. He slumped against the wall as he accepted defeat. “I guess we’re moving out Charlie. Sorry, I won’t be able to afford someplace as nice as this.” Steve’s voice broke as he spoke. He tried to focus on packing his things, but his thoughts always drifted to happy memories of him and Tony. 

“What happened?” Sam opened the door, surprised to see Steve looking devastated at his door in the middle of the night. 

“Tony broke up with me. I don’t really want to talk about it. Can I stay with you until I find an apartment?” 

“I’m so sorry man. Stay as long as you need.” 

~Tony~

Tony hadn’t stopped working since breaking things off with Steve. 

“Sir, Steve has left another message with me. That makes five unheard messages. Would you like to hear them?”

“No, JARVIS mute all notifications about Steve Rodgers. I don’t want to be reminded of them.”

Tony futilely attempted to throw himself into the new spy technology for Nat and Clint, but everything in the lab reminded his of Steve. The cute sketches of him and the robots, the sticky notes with reminders to eat and sleep, the upgraded Captain America suit in the corner - they all shot pain through his chest.

“Sir, Agents Barton and Romanoff have arrived from their mission. They are in the communal kitchen area if you wish to see them.”

Tony nodded and admitted it was probably time for a break. He stumbled up to the kitchen.

“Jeez, you look like shit.” Clint scoffed as Tony made his way toward the spies making sandwiches.

Tony pushed the brew button on his coffee maker and mumbled, “I was working on technology for you Katniss. Any more jabs on my appearance and you may never know what it feels like to shoot invisible arrows.”

“I thought you’d be playing with Steve’s new puppy this weekend, not sulking in the lab altering arrows - not that I’m complaining though.” 

“Steve’s what?”

“Charlie. You know? The dog he picked out from the shelter the day before you got back. He seemed really excited to show you, but I guess he never worked up the nerve.”

Tony’s face must have turned into one of horror because Clint quickly added “If you hate dogs and have them banned from the premises or something, just remember, I’m only the messenger.” 

“I need to go.” Tony rushed toward the elevator.

Clint shrugged it off as Tony’s eccentricities. Natasha raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything as she dug back into her meal.

“JARVIS, take me to the floor Steve is on.”

“Captain America vacated the Avengers Tower as of 6:03pm yesterday evening.”

“What?” Tony’s face well “Why did he...?”

“If I may, your words ‘just be grateful I’m giving you a week to move out’ during your most recent argument may have prompted him to leave.” 

Tony leaned back against the handle and closed his eyes. When he walked into the room that night, Steve was so happy. He was practically beaming to have Tony home. He was probably going to share the news about him getting a puppy and give that pouty face that was irresistible to Tony. Why hadn’t he trusted Steve? Why hadn’t he given him a moment to speak?

“JARVIS, play Steve’s messages.”

“Hey Tony, it’s Steve. You probably could already see that I guess. Can we talk about whatever this is? I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I promise I was never unfaithful to you. Love you. Please call me back.”

“It’s Steve again. I can’t find any media articles claiming I’m having an affair, but I promise if you saw one that it’s all libel....I love you.”

“Hi, it’s Steve. I can’t tell if you aren’t getting these or your just ignoring me, but I really need to see you...”

“I’m going to be in that coffee shop you like from 5am-2pm today if you want to come work things out. Please show up.”

“Hello, it’s Steve Rogers. I’m really sorry for whatever I did to hurt you Tony. I honestly didn’t mean it. All I ever wanted to do was making you happy, but I guess I’m just a giant failure. Don’t worry, I’m packing up my stuff and moving out tonight. I’ll be out of your hair. I’ll still always have your back in the battlefield Tony. I know you don’t trust me, but maybe you can trust Captain America. Steve Rodgers was never enough anyway.” 

Tony’s heart cracked at the first four messages and shattered at the fifth. He was a monster. Steve didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t even know what he was accused of and Tony didn’t give him a chance to share his side. Tony knew he needed to apologize. He could only pray that their was some shimmer of a chance that he would be taken back.

It took several hours of sifting through security footage and tapping into illegal surveillance methods to figure out Steve went to D.C. As soon as he got Sam’s address, Tony suited up and flew as fast as he could to the front doorstep. He pounded on the door.

“I’ll be there in a second. Stop trying to break my fucking door.” An irritated voice yelled out and suddenly Sam’s face was visible in the doorframe. 

The instant he saw Tony, he puffed up his chests and stretched his arms to prevent him from entering. “What do you possibly think you’re doing here?”

“I made a mistake. I need to apologize to Steve.”

“He explicitly told me he didn’t want to see you right now. You shouldn’t of broken up with him if you still wanted him.”

“I know. I did something terrible and I need to make it right. Please just give me five minutes with him.” Tony’s voice must’ve been pathetic enough to soften Sam up, because the next thing he knew, he was standing in the guest bedroom Steve had been staying in.

Hope flashed across Steve’s featured for a millisecond before he squashed them with a mask of stony indifference. “Sorry, did I accidentally take something of yours? Do you want the suit back? It’s all yours.” 

Tony felt like throwing up. Steve looked so wrecked. His eyes were dull and his hair unkempt. He clearly wasn’t sleeping. Tony has caused this.

“Well, I wanted to say that... I came here so that I could... I’m a giant idiot and I’m so sorry. I never meant to...Stevie I’m so so so sorry. I jumped to conclusions and I hurt you and I ignored you. I know you wouldn’t cheat on me. I was just so mad and jealous and insecure. I lashed out and you didn’t deserve it. I understand if you never want to see me again. Just let me know.” Tony’s eyes drifted down to a speck on the wood floor. “I know I have no right to ask this, but is there any way you would be able to try again? I’ll do everything to make up for this. I’ll be the best boyfriend that’s ever existed. I just don’t want to lose you.” Tony dropped to his knees as he begged Steve for a second chance.

Steve’s eyes widened as he contemplated the situation before him. “What did I even do?” He said softly. “You wouldn’t even let me explain myself Tony. You didn’t trust me and you didn’t give me a chance to fix any problem I caused. How could you throw me out like I was nothing? Do you even love me?”

“I love you more than I love my own life Steve. I was unforgivably cruel to you. When you sent me that voicemail...” Tony explained his misunderstanding to Steve and he finally seemed to notice the dog on the bed.

Steve lumped onto his mattress and the dog was immediately in his la. “You’re a little troublemaker, aren’t you boy?” 

He thought for a moment longer before moving the dog aside and kneeling down next to Tony. “I love you too. I want to be with you more than anything in the world. Please promise me you’ll work on trusting me?”

Tony nodded vigorously and gave a relieved smile. Steve leaned in to kiss him. When they pulled back for air, he said “I guess I’ll have to forgive you then.”


	3. Fourth of July (Starker)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's enhanced senses can't handle the loud noises during the fourth of July celebration. Tony comforts him.

“Happy Birthday to Steve, Happy Birthday to You”

Everyone looked expectantly at Steve as he blew out the candles in the red, white, and blue cupcakes on the table. The surrounding room was completely decked out in patriotic decorations, and there was a mountain of similarly colored presents on the coffee table.

Unlike most people, Steve was glad to share his birthday with his favorite holiday so everyone went all out. The sunny day had been spend barbecuing and hanging out by the refreshing pool. 

Tony fondly remembered Peter in his swim trunks. The water glistening on his exposed muscles. He never tired of gazing at his boyfriend, no matter how many times Peter blushed and looked away after meeting his gaze. 

Peter reached excitedly as he grabbed a cupcake. He immediately inhaled it, staining his tongue blue. Natasha hid a smirk and Bucky laughed out loud. Despite being 23, Peter was still the ‘kid avenger’ and he definitely acted the part. He turned to Tony and made a pouty face, his blue lip sticking out. Tony wrapped his arm around Peter and kissed his cheek, “You guys don’t want to see what happens when you upset my baby.” He joked with the others. 

“It is time for the colorful explosives!” Thor shouted and practically sprinted to the balcony. Although there were many members who suffered from PTSD, they had learned that even Bucky and Tony enjoyed fireworks as long as they were planned and expected. 

Everyone crowded onto the balcony. Tony glanced around in confusion as he realized Peter hadn’t joined them, “Spidey?” Peter strolled out at his beckoning. If Tony hadn’t known better, he would think the kid was nervous. He shrugged it off as anticipation and pulled Peter under his arm again to watch the show together. 

There was a whistling and the night time noises of New York were suddenly drown out with a large boom. The sky filled with red sparkles that captured everyone’s full attention. Peter had stiffened a little at the noise, but not too much. Tony continued to be enchanted by the display for a few more fireworks before he looked at each of his team members.

Not long ago, they had been divided. They had fought to the point of causing serious harm and had left believing that they would never repair their broken relationships. Somehow, the impossible had occurred and they were all back safely living in the tower together. There were still tender subjects, but as Tony watched the expressions on his teammates faces brighten, he felt content at how far they’d come. He didn't mind spending a ridiculous amount of money on fireworks if it made his friends, scratch that, his family happy.

By the time he had viewed every shimmering eye, he turned his head for a quick glance at his boyfriend. Peter had been shaking a little so Tony hugged him closer to warm him up a little. He fondly smiled down at the adorableness of his shivering spider when the light from a firework lit of his face. Tony was shocked to see the tears streaming down Peter’s face. He abruptly grabbed his arm and pulled him inside. Peter broke down into sobs and hiccuped.

“Are you hurt? Is something wrong? Friday, what are Peter’s vitals?” Tony shot off a barrage of questions in a panic. Peter didn’t break down easily so something must be seriously wrong. “I need you to talk to me.”

“Peter’s heart rate is slightly increased and he is perspiring more than his baseline, but within a healthy range” 

Tony relaxes a little at the AI’s assurance that his boy was physically unharmed. Peter grabs his hand and leads him to the bedroom. Tony figures that he doesn’t want the other Avengers to see him in an emotional state and lets him move to a more private location. 

Once Tony steps inside and closes the door, Peter sighs with relief and sinks into the bed. “S,S,Sorry, Tony,” he manages to stutter out. “Don’t apologize.” Tony rubs his back in a soothing way, “Can you tell me what’s wrong?” 

“It’s just the explosions. They’re too much to take.” Tony arches an eyebrow at Peter’s response, “You don’t like fireworks?”

“I used to but...” Peter trails off as he tries to catch his breath more. 

Tony’s mind immediately slips to a dark place. Does he have PTSD already? He’s too young for that. Damn, why didn’t they ask him before ordering the show. If Peter did, it’d be all his fault for taking him to those big fights when he was young. And that thing with the building, even though Peter had never blamed him, Tony knew it was his fault that Peter was trapped by the Vulture. He’d ruined him. He took away his youth by making him fight and by dating him.

Tony’s breaths sped up and shallowed as he thought about all the mistakes he’d made with Peter. How he didn’t deserve him. How he was corrupting such an innocent child. 

Now it was Peter’s turn to do some comforting, “Tony, focus on me. Listen to my voice okay? I need you to breathe with me.” Tony came back quickly, “Sorry kid, I didn’t mean to...”

Peter cut him off with a quick kiss before saying, “Sorry for interrupting the show.” 

“Stop trying to apologize. I don’t accept them.” Tony frowned a bit.

“They’re just too loud I guess. With the whole senses dialed up to eleven thing, the noise makes my ears ring and my head pound. The bright lights and cheering doesn’t help much either. It’s stupid, I know.” Peter sheepishly explained.

Tony pulled Peter close and had him leaning against his chest in a comforting position. “It’s not stupid. You can’t help the spider stuff. You’re different from everyone so you need to handle things differently from everyone. If that means you need to find a safe space from a situation that makes you uncomfortable, it’s totally fine. In fact, it’s necessary. I don’t want you exerting yourself to the point of pain just because you assume it’s what the team wants.” Tony murmured, “Everyone here has something that plaques them - PTSD, flashbacks, nightmares, and more. Saving the world is a scaring job, don’t feel ashamed to ask for help or assistance.” 

Peter hesitated for a moment, mulling over Tony’s words in his head. He then smiles and cuddles into Tony, feeling safe and loved, “Thank you for an amazing fourth.” He whispers.


	4. Not Your Son (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is overprotective of his son, Peter, and takes it out on Steve. Peter helps mend things.

“You were so embarrassed when the whole team showed up to the auditorium.” Tony laughed fondly at the photos of Peter in his graduation garb. The pictures clearly showed a blush on Peter’s cheeks and there was always two or more rowdy Avengers in the background. Clint had removed his hearing aids and blasted the loudest noisemaker he could find. Thor was tossing glittery confetti. Steve and Bruce looked like they were about to cry. Bucky and Sam were holding a large banner that read “Congrats Grad” with hand drawn images of Peter, curtesy of Steve, who was clapping loudly. Rhodey and Natasha were acting normal, but the pride in their eyes was evident. Tony was crowding Peter to take pictures and point out to others that “He’s my son!”. There were pictures of him with Ned and MJ, of him with Tony, and of him with May. 

“You guys caused such a huge commotion. I was really grateful that people showed up to watch me though.” Peter reminised as he flipped the page of the photo album Steve had insisted upon because they were more sentimental than digital. The next few pages were filled with pictures of the team in the tower. There was Thor and Steve smiling as they ate breakfast together. Sam in an apron baking Spiderman cupcakes for Peter’s birthday. Natasha and Bruce cuddled under a blanket on the couch. Clint demonstrating how to shoot arrows for Bucky. Tony covered in flour with Loki doubled over from laughing in the background. There were some of them posing with their weapons. One where the whole team was gathered around a Christmas tree in ugly sweaters. Peter hissing at a candy cane. 

Then there was a photo that silenced the two men. It was a picture of Tony signing the paperwork to legally adopt Peter. While Peter did appear happy, they both knew that the only reason Tony had taken that step was because his true guardian, his Aunt May, passed away in a horrible accident. Tony’s mentor role had long since morphed into a fatherly role, and Peter knew it, but when Tony asked him if he would like to be adopted, it finalized May’s death in his mind. 

Peter’s breath hitched a bit when he saw the photo, but he turned and grinned at Tony’s concerned face. “I miss her, but I’m not unhappy here. I love you, Dad.” Tony released a tiny sigh of relief and put his arm around the kid. “We should probably move that photo. Steve’ll have a stroke if he’s sees it disorganized.” Peter rolled his eyes at Ton’y exaggeration, but turned back to the front of the book to place the photo in its correct spot. 

He thought back to when Steve and Tony got together. He’d officially been Tony’s son for a couple of years before Steve and Tony reconnected. There had been countless apologies and a whole lotta healing, but the men forgave each other, then they became close friends, and then they pined after each other for far too long. It took some trickery from Natasha and an ‘error’ from JARVIS to get them to finally admit their feelings. Then there was the awkward dating stage, the gross overly touchy phase, and then married life. Actually, the later two of those were still in effect. Their relationship was immortalized in another photo book, one that Steve had carefully put together.

Peter had been awestruck when he met Captain America .The idol worship became respect and admiration when he experienced the Captain’s leadership prowess and fighting skills on the battlefield. Then, Peter met Steve Rogers. Steve Rogers drew cartoons of the Avengers and left them on sticky notes around the house. He made hot chocolate if he noticed someone was having a difficult time sleeping. He listened attentively to Peter’s problems in school and offered solid advice. He took care of everyone. That’s when Peter knew he platonically loved the man. And if he helped Natasha in setting Steve and Tony up, well no one had to know. 

The team became Peter’s family and he loved his two dads more than anything in the whole world. 

“Now that I’ve almost graduated college, I’ve been thinking about revealing my identity and officially joining the Avengers. It’s not like it’ll affect my research, and now my family is able to protect themselves just fine - no one is going to try and mess with the Hulk to get to me. I won’t be so worried about my mask coming off or being as anonymous when I’m fighting crime. What do you think?”

Tony’s jaw tightened and his hold on the book increased. “What if villains attack you when you’re just out and around town? I don’t know if that’s such a good idea Pete.”

Peter frowned, “I’d just call the suit. You were the one who added that feature, remember?”

“But you’re too young. Maybe you should try and explore other options in life. Is it really that painful to keep it a secret for a bit longer?”

“Most of the team started younger than I am now. I already love working in a lab and Spiderman is totally a part of my life now. There aren’t any ‘other options’ I even want to try. Plus, you revealed your identity really soon. Is it just that you don’t think I’m responsible enough?”

“Are you sure you don’t want this for the fame, kid? Because I don’t really see you making any other valid points. It isn’t all fun and games being swamped with paparazzi and weird fans while you’re out in public. What if I didn’t think you were ready for it?” Tony’s concern made him lash out at the young adult next to him.

“My feelings aren’t a valid enough reason? And you know I’m not after the fame. I just want to be free to who I am and not keep these secrets any more. I am ready. Will you ever stop thinking of me as that fourteen year old kid you first met? I’m older, smarter, and more mature. I can make my own decisions and I’d hope you would support them.”

“Not if they’re the wrong decisions.” 

With those words, Peter left the room and headed to his bedroom. An hour later, he heard a soft knocking at his door. 

“If it’s Tony, go away.”

“It’s Steve. I’ll leave if you want me to, but I’d really like to talk to you buddy?”

“Come in.”

Steve flashed a weak smile toward Peter. “I heard you had a bit of an argument from JARVIS. Do you want to tell me about it?” The super solider sat down on the bed next to where Peter was doing homework on his laptop. 

“I told Tony that I wanted to reveal my identity.”

Steve nodded.

“He freaked out and told me I shouldn’t do it. He said I was too young to thing about the consequences and that I was only doing it for the fame. Is he ever going to see me as an adult?” 

“Why do you want to do it?”

“I’m on edge all the time in my suit. Now that I’ve been fighting in televised battles, I feel so much pressure to ensure that none of my actions could allude to who I am. I’d also be nice to be accepted as an official part of the team. I could actually attend post-battle meals in public with you guys or strip my mask off to breath easier after a fight. It’s not like I don’t get enough press coverage from being Tony Stark’s and Captain America’s son so I think the benefits outweigh the cons.”

Steve gave a lopsided grin. “I might not be a genius like Tony, but that seems like sound logic to me. I’m sure he’s just worried about you getting stuck in this line of work once you’ve officially revealed yourself, but I think he needs to remember that you’ve been doing this for enough years to commit. And Peter, you are a part of the team. Even if the press doesn’t recognize you, you’re an important part of our operation. We couldn’t do what we do without your quick thinking and your genius and your kind heart. Trust me, I know how it feels to think that everything special about you comes from an accident, but let me tell you, that isn’t true at all. You’re an amazing kid all by yourself. The spider bite just made that fact more visible.”

Peter’s face relaxed a bit. “Thank you. You’re pretty great without the serum too.”

“Why don’t I go try to coax some sense into Tony?”

Peter hummed in appreciation and Steve left him to continue his work. 

“JARVIS, please alert Tony that I’m coming into the lab.” Steve was always mindful to avoid surprising Tony. Unsurprisingly, heart conditions, PTSD, and jump scares didn’t mix well.

He took a few steps inside. The music was off and he knew Tony could hear him. “I know you’re always concerned about Peter’s safety, hell, I am too, but I think he’s right this time Tones. We should be guiding him on how to do it the right way, not trying to limit his choice. He’s a very smart young man who will do the right thing. Richard and Ben and May and you made sure of that.”

“Well, even though you’ve been persuaded to think otherwise, I don’t think he’s thought this through all the way Steve. He’s going to have to be a superhero forever now, He’s still young. He has a life ahead of him to change and experience. He shouldn’t be tied down by something like this. What if he wants to work in the public sector, but he slipped up as Spiderman and no one will hire him? What if people refuse to befriend him because of the publicity? What if his tongue slips during an answer to the press and they make him out to be an asshole? He isn’t ready.”

“I think he is. Those are all small problems that I’m sure Tony Stark can handle. Peter is ready for this.”

“Well it’s a good thing he’s not your son so your input doesn’t matter then, doesn't it? Like you said ‘Richard and Ben and May and me’ made sure that he grew up safely, not you.”

Steve’s chest stung. There was suddenly a lump in his throat and his eyes began to water in the corners. He waited for Tony to say something else, For him to apologize or take it back, but they just sat there in silence. Tony didn’t even turn to look at him. Steve left to go off an be alone. 

His mind went back to all the times he’d voiced his insecurities about stepping into Peter’s life as Tony’s spouse. Even though the “kid” was an adult, he’d been dealt a rough hand and he deserved a father who provided him all the attention and help he deserved. Steve didn’t want to detract from that. Tony reassured him that him just thinking about that showed how much Steve loved Peter and that it proved he would be a good father. He convinced him that Peter wasn’t upset about Germany anymore. Whenever Steve snuck away to leave them for some father-son bonding, Tony had insisted he stay because he was a part of the family. 

“I guess that wasn’t what he truly thought.” Steve muttered bitterly. He wasn’t Peter’s father. He knew he didn’t really have a say in Peter’s actions, but neither did Tony at this point. His heart hurt when he thought about Germany and leaving them alone for a while, but eventually his feet carried him back to the tower. 

He sighed before heading up. He opted to grab some blankets and sleep on the couch that night. 

Bang. “Shit.”

Steve awoke to the sound of Peter dropping a skillet whilst attempting to make eggs before leaving for his morning class. “Language.” He said semi sarcastically before offering to help. 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. You don’t need to do it for me.”

“Nonsense, I’m hungry too. I usually get up around this time anyway, you know that.”

“Well, I thought you might deserve a bit more rest if you were up late last night watching T.V. or whatever it was that caused you to fall asleep on the couch.”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. It was something like that.” Peter sensed the sadness in Steve’s tone and looked at the couch again. He realized that it had a pillow and proper blankets. Steve hadn’t just fallen asleep after a bout of insomnia. He had chosen to sleep there. Or been forced to. 

“Is everything all right?”

“Yep. There was a little issue with Tony, but nothing major. I actually think I’m going to go for a run before eating. Help yourself to all the eggs. A spider needs to keep up his strength.”

Peter was a bit skeptical, but he sat down and shoveled breakfast in his mouth. Steve made the most perfect scrambled eggs. Peter could seriously eat them for every meal. After his hunger was satiated, he began to think about what Steve said. “If there was an issue, maybe it was something about me? Steve did say he would talk to Tony about the identity thing. I really hope I didn’t cause this.”

Peter was nervous, but his curiosity got the best of him. “JARVIS, can you please show me any footage of an argument between Steve and Tony yesterday?”

The AI, with no orders to block this showing, quickly pulled up the workshop on screen. Peter watched as the relatively tame conversation started up. He could practically feel the tension growing before it exploded courtesy of Tony. 

“He’s not your son”

Peter’s heart hurt as he watched Steve’s reaction to the words. He hated that he would just accept Tony’s harsh words as the truth, that he would honestly believe he had no place as part of Peter’s family. It became even more painful when he realized that Steve must’ve been feeling all this while he got up and took care of Peter this morning, but managed to hide it so well. 

Peter’s eyes began to leak when he heard a shuffling from nearby. Tony was staring, frozen in place, at the screen. 

“It’s not like you hadn’t seen the video before. Clearly, you were in it,” Peter quipped harshly before his tone softened, “Why would you say that to him? Legal status isn’t what makes a family. Steve is my family. He was the only one fighting for me instead of against me anyway.” His voice hitched near the end and he couldn’t stop himself from crying. 

Tony audibly swallowed as he watched his son dry his eyes with a cloth napkin and pretend to be fine when he was clearly trembling. When Steve didn’t come back to bed last night, Tony started to think about the events of the day. Quickly, he realized that he was in the wrong. He knew Peter was fully capable of doing his own thing and that he shouldn’t let his own insecurities stunt his son’s life.

“I’m so sorry Pete. You were right. I was just being a helicopter parent because I get so worried about you all the time. It isn’t an excuse, but I hope you’ll forgive me? I’d be more than happy to help you plan your reveal.” 

“It’s fine Dad. I was expecting some pushback anyway since you’re always like this. I forgive you for overreacting. But what you said to Steve...” Peter’s eyes fluttered over to the screen.

“I messed up.” Tony agreed. That was an understatement. He had royally fucked up. 

Peter nodded, he could see the guilt in Tony’s eyes and trusted him to fix the problem. “Steve just left for a run,” he added before leaving for school.

Tony sat on the couch, waiting for Steve. Fifteen minutes later he was pacing around the room. An hour later, it was the whole floor. Three hours later, it was the building. He’d given JARVIS strict orders to inform him the minute Steve entered the building. He couldn’t enter his lab without being overwhelmed at what he’d done and he didn’t want to leave the tower and miss his husband. By the time Steve came back, five hours later, Tony was on the verge of a panic attack. Steve had to come back, right? Could he have gotten hurt or kidnapped while he was out? Did he just realize that Tony was too terrible and that he never wanted to see him again? He would at least come back to sign divorce papers, right? The devastated face Steve made when he noticed Tony sent him over the edge.

Tony plopped down on the floor and hyperventilated. In a second, Steve was at his side. Consoling him and grounding him like always. He stroked Tony’s hair and spoke gently to him until he was relaxed against his chest. “What happened? Are you hurt? Is Peter hurt? Did anyone on the team get injured?” 

Tony’s head throbbed at Steve’s blatant concern. His face scrunched up. Here come the waterworks. He somehow managed to shake his head as he choked back a sob.

Steve rubbed circles on Tony’s back and tucked him under his chin. “Everyone is safe. It’s going to be alright. It’s okay to let it out.” He murmured in his ear. The careful way Steve handled him and the honest words of encouragement made the guilt too much to bare.

Tony broke away and jolted back. “You shouldn’t be comforting me. I’m the one who hurt you. Steve, I’m so so so sorry for what I said yesterday in the lab. You and Peter were right. I told him before he left for school his morning that we’d help him with it...if that’s something you’d like to do?”

“I know how you felt Tony. You don’t want to lose another family. I forgive you. I know I’m not his father anyway so that doesn’t give me the right to argue with you about parenting. I’m sorry I didn’t realize it bothered you when I intruded on your relationship. I promise to -“

“You can’t possibly think that I don’t like it when you’re with Peter.”

“Well...”

“Don’t say it Steve. Don’t even think it. I was unimaginably wrong yesterday. You’re Peter’s father. Who gives a shit if the government recognizes it? Who trusts them anyway? I love you. Peter loves you. He looks up to Steve Rogers and you can’t forget that because I’m the worst person on the planet.”

“You’re not-“ 

“Yes I was. I’m going to keep apologizing until it’s better. Until you’ve stopped doubting the irreplaceable part you play in both of our lives.”

Steve trembled a bit before blushing at Tony. 

Peter and Steve made dinner together as Tony set up a game for them to play together. The night was spent laughing and cuddling. None of them could ask for a better night.

“Fuck. Why am I so bad at this?” Tony grumbled at his plastic red piece.

“Language.” Peter and Steve chastised him simultaneously.

“He’s definitely your son Cap.”


	5. Best Person (Stucky)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky's having a bad day. Steve makes it better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mentions of Past Abuse

Today was awful. Bucky had to go to the doctor for a physical this afternoon and Steve wasn’t there to sit with him. He hated doctors. He hated needles. How could anyone know what was in the shots they were getting? Were they scanning your head or messing with your brain? Is the medicine they prescribe even good for you? It’s not like you would be able to tell without an advanced degree in pharmacology and a handle on medical jargon. Honestly, most of his suspicions came from his time under HYDRA. He knew that Tony wouldn’t let him see an evil doctor. He knew that he had friends to keep him safe. Sam, as much as they fought, even went with him to the appointment and gently talked him through everything they did. He respected Bucky’s boundaries and asked the doctor to slow down, stop, or leave whenever he noticed too much strain. 

But despite the logic, the fear remained. He couldn’t stop the flashbacks of being tortured and brainwashed in a lab. He saw the grin of a man in a white lab coat as his blood burned. The grinning man morphed into a green snake. It stared at him, taunting him, daring him to fight. It coiled and shot at him. Bucky jerked away and glanced at different objects in the room. He was in a rotten mood. 

His head whipped around as his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of clicking by the door. He stood up in an offensive stance and walked around a corner that would allow him to see the door, but where the attacker couldn’t see him. Once he recognized the blonde hair of his boyfriend, his tension melted away and he ran up to give him a hug. “You weren’t supposed to be back for three days.” Bucky gave him a once over to check for injury. Steve was remarkably unharmed and he let out a sigh of relief before pulling Stve back into his tight embrace. 

“It was easy. The base was smaller than we expected.” Steve shrugged and leaned in for a kiss. “I also get to spend the rest of the mission time off. I think I have a few ideas of how to spend it,” He smirked. 

Bucky nearly dragged him to the bedroom.

By the time they were finished catching up, both of the super soldiers were starving so Steve began preparing some pasta for dinner. The pot of water was just over the burner when he noticed that the salt wasn’t in it’s usual spot by the oven. He surveyed the kitchen. It was in front of the microwave, which neither of them used. “Ah ha,” Steve suddenly lunged in the direction to grab what he needed. As he wrapped his hand around the shaker, he noticed Bucky was twitching and had his eyes closed. 

“Buck, are you alright?” He laid a hand on his shoulder. Bucky jumped at that and Steve put his hands up and took a few steps back. “I’m sorry. Did I do something?” Bucky shook his head, but held out his hand to gestured that he needed a minute. Steve moved further away from him and sat down on the floor. He was hoping that his criss cross position might ease Bucky’s mind again. He put his head in his hands. What did he do to scare his boyfriend like that? There had to be something before today that made Bucky think he was dangerous. It broke Steve’s heart to think that the pain on Bucky’s face could be because of him. Even if there was a deeper trauma, he was the one who had brought it up. 

He made the pasta in silence when he saw Bucky had calmed down. They dished it out and ate quietly. Once they were finished, Bucky sat down on the couch with a book he’d been reading. It was an overview of the technological age that he had wanted so he could stay more in tune with the modern world. Although he wasn’t able to get a SHIELD briefing like Steve, the whole Avenger’s team had done their part in providing him with resources to catch him up. He was mortified. He got spooked over a salt shaker. What did Steve think of him? Why did Steve still want him? 

Yeah, there was something during the war, but that was when he was confident and strong. He had all his limbs and all his memories. He was in control of his mind. Now, Steve had to coddle him. He always protected him from things that made him anxious or scared. He listened to all of his fears. He patiently helped him adjust. Was he doing it because he fell responsible for when Bucky fell off the train? He probably wasn’t actually attracted to this sniveling coward. 

When he came up to their room, he saw the bathroom door open and the light on. He walked in on Steve putting something in the water. “I prepared a bath for you. It’s got those soothing smells you like and I think it’s cooled down to the right temperature.” He wrung his hands and made a movement like he was going to leave, “I’m um sorry about before. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I can grab a blanket and sleep on the couch if you need some space.” Steve’s head had slowly lowered until it hung anxiously while he awaited a response. Bucky did not like this look. 

“Why would I need space? You just spent two weeks away.”

“I make you feel scared. You were shaking in the kitchen and it’s all my fault. If you can tell me what I did, I promise I’ll fix it. I’ll give you as much space as you need for you to feel…”

Bucky cut him off with a kiss. “You don’t make me feel scared. You make me feel safe.” He blushed a bit at Steve’s shocked expression. “Today I went to get a physical and I’ve just been antsy since then. You didn’t do anything. I’m sorry for jumping when you touched me. It’s weak.”

Steve flashed a soft smile, “You don’t have anything to apologize for. You’re the strongest person I know. Remember that I’ve always got your back so you can rely on me if you aren’t feeling great.” 

Bucky nodded and looked at the bath. Steve’s smile got wider, “Get in.” Once Bucky stripped and slid in, he expected Steve to go off, but was pleasantly surprised when he squatted down next to his head. “Would you mind if I touched you?” Bucky thought about it for a moment before giving his consent. Steve ran his fingers through Bucky’s hair. His fingers rubbed small circles into his scalp. He placed a kiss on his neck and then moved his hands down to massage his shoulders and back. Bucky could feel the tension and stress he’d been fighting all day melt away at Steve’s fingertips. He closed his eyes and pushed into Steve’s touch. “You’re the best person I know, you know that?”

Steve adoringly studied Bucky’s features from behind. “Funny. You’re the best person I know."


	6. Ski Weekend (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony sees Peter in Steve's room and misinterprets the relationship. He's a little jealous and insecure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Mentions of Past Trauma (Being Frozen)

“We should go skiing!” Tony excitedly blurted out as the Quinjet passed over some snowy mountains. The mission had been particularly rough, and the team had been lightly discussing the idea of going on a vacation together when Tony made his contribution.

“I have a private ski lodge that could easily fit everyone. It’s in a gorgeous location surrounded by trees and extremely close to a lift. It’ll be a good private spot to relax and let loose.” He started rambling in his trance. “JARVIS let the vacation staff know to stock the place with an ungodly amount of food and that we’ll be up within the week.” 

The robot beeped in compliance. Natasha had a sparkle in her eye. She missed the natural snowy landscapes from home. Clint was also grinning. He wanted to practice a biathlon. Bruce found skiing the less steep slopes therapeutic and was very much on board to go. Thor was excited to test this new Midguardian sport. Sam was curious to try a large jump with his wings on. 

Everyone was too busy daydreaming about their snowy destination that they didn’t notice the sullen gracing Steve and Peter’s faces. 

In two days, everyone had packed their warmest clothing and prepared to hit the slopes. They clambered into a private jet and anxiously awaited their trip. 

Once they got the lodge, the team practically sprinted inside. They haphazardly claimed their rooms and threw their stuff down before grabbing skis that Tony’s robots had designed to be the perfect size for each of them. 

Peter sat down next to Steve on the bench and curiously eyed his boots. He looked at the older man with a helpless look in his eyes. 

“I’ve never been skiing before, Mr. Rogers. I don’t know how to do this.”

“Me neither. In the Depression we didn’t exactly have the time to travel off for something like this, let alone the money to afford the gear and shelter. We can figure it out together, alright? And you can call me Steve.” 

Peter grinned in relief. If Captain America couldn’t ski either, he’d be fine.

“Don’t bend it. You’ll break it. Here watch me.” Bruce yelled at Thor, who was stomping on the skis, indoors, without his boots on. Peter and Steve watched as the scientists gave detailed instructions on how to wear the boots and how they would be attached - once they got outside and to the snow. 

“This footwear makes moving very difficult. Are you sure these are on right?” Steve questioned.

“The boots make everyone walk weird like that.” Natasha supplied “It’ll be much better once we’ve got the skis on.”

Putting the skis on was a whole other ordeal. Thor must’ve slipped ten times. Getting on and off the ski lift also proved challenging. Peter’s skis got twisted and he fell right into Steve, knocking him on his butt. It took a bit of help to get both of them up. Peter apologized profusely, but Steve insisted that he didn’t mind and admitted the lift had been pretty tricky. 

Natasha and Tony announced that they were heading straight to the top. Sam and Thor, against everyone’s advice, decided to join them. Clint disappeared into the forest almost immediately. That left Bruce, Peter, and Steve to the green slopes. Steve was grateful that no one was around to tease him when he would inevitably fall. He felt like a baby deer.

As the day progressed, Steve and Peter got better and better. Peter picked up on it fairly quickly because of his superb balance. Bruce’s tips were helpful as well. Tony checked in every once and a while and attempted to pressure them into joining ‘the adults’ but was unsuccessful. 

Eventually, they made it back to the lodge. They ate dinner all together and then hung out in a gigantic jacuzzi drinking hot cocoa to warm all the way up. Sam told stories about jumping with the wings and Tony made jokes about Thor’s terrible skills. Clint mentioned that the forest was beautiful that day and Peter enthusiastically shared how much he’d learned. It was peaceful and relaxing. They all deserved it. 

That is, it was peaceful until Thor broke out the Asgardian mead and accidentally shorted the fuse box. Tony, being the genius he was, was able to restore power to pretty much everything, but the heater was shot. It was unfortunate, but Tony revealed that he had enough high powered space heaters to keep everyone warm.

Most of the individuals were skeptical at first, but when they plugged them in, they realized each bedroom would easily be toasty by bedtime. The common room would still be chilly. Tony pulled out an insane amount of luxury blankets and offered them to each member of his team. 

After that fiasco, everyone decided to retreat to their own rooms and sleep off the tiredness they all felt. 

Around midnight, Peter was still lying in his bed, curled in the fetal position and shaking like there was no tomorrow. His teeth were chattering. He already had the space heater way closer to him than was safely recommended and he was covered in several layers of blankets. “Damn spiders and their inability to thermoregulate.” Peter cursed as he pulled off the blankets and felt the cold air reach him. He was determined to get another layer from the living room. When he snuck to the middle, he saw Steve already there and reaching for the last blanket. Steve quickly turned to see who was behind him and saw Peter intently staring at the blanket in his hands.

“Hi,” Steve whispered, “Did you need this?” 

“No, no, no, I’m fine. I already have a lot in my room.”

“I’m not that cold - you know super serum and all.” Steve recognized that Peter was trembling. Clearly, he needed the blanket more. In fact, Steve was definitely physically warm enough to make it through the night. If it was anyone else, they’d be asleep.

It was just every bit of cold air made him remember all the other times he was cold. He vividly remembered hacking up a lung near Christmas and feeling like he might freeze. He remembers his frostbitten fingers because he had tried to find wood since they couldn’t afford coal. He remembers crashing into the icy waters with the plane. He remembers being thawed and feeling the extreme cold in his bones. Yep, Peter definitely needed this more.

He stretched his arm to offer Peter the blanket. “You look cold.” 

Peter noticed the panicked look in Steve’s eyes and the way he was actively trying to repress his trembling. The blanket probably wouldn’t even help Peter anyway. He should just let Steve keep it. He shook his head and tried to smile, but his teeth ended up violently chattering, causing Steve to rush over. 

“Your lips! They’re blue.” He exclaimed. “Is your heater not working? How many blankets do you have? I have some extra in my room that I could do without.” 

“I’m fine. Spiders can’t regulate their temperature, and ever since the bite, neither can I. One blanket honestly won’t make that much of a difference.”

Steve automatically held out his arms and Peter gave him a hug. He sighed in relief when he felt the warmth of the super solider’s heating system. “Um, I don’t mean to...During the war, we would huddle together in the trenches to warm up. Do you want to...”

“I want to sleep with you.” Peter blurted out. Then, with a slight blush, he added, “for warmth.” 

Steve smiled and went over to Peter’s room to grab the heater and all the blankets. “Might as well have twice as many.” He explained.

Having Peter in his arms kept away all thoughts of the overwhelming cold. Being with Steve kept Peter nice and warm. He was drifting off within seconds. Both men woke up refreshed.

They managed to sneak out without anyone noticing. Steve dressed quickly, a product of years of military training, and made it to the common area. It was an unusual sight to see the rest of the team up so early. They were raring to go. Sam already made food and Clint was in his boots. “Going to try the big hill?” Tony questioned him. Steve shook his head, “Maybe some other time.” 

They were practically out the door by the time Peter came out. There were several jokes about being in his twenties and sleeping in too much, but they ended soon as everyone but Steve left. Peter and him took their time to eat and then went to hit the slopes. 

“Do you think you could sled on your shield?” Peter called out whilst going down the slope backwards. 

“Probably,” Steve admitted, “It’s in my room if you want to test it.” He was always prepared for an attack.

Peter ran into the lodge and emerged with the shield in hand. Steve undid his own skis. In a few hours, Bruce and Natasha would find them, covered in snow and laughing hysterically as they made increasingly bigger jumps. At least they didn’t have to worry about breaking the ‘sled’ and their bodies would heal from any bruises in no time. The four of them were still going at it when everyone else came down for dinner. Again, they were like family as they ate and chatted. They even made s’mores in the fireplace. 

This night, Peter automatically went to Steve’s room. “This is okay right?” He asked hesitantly. Steve gave a welcoming smile and patted the bed. It wasn’t quite time to sleep, but everyone else had retired to their bedrooms to read or watch TV on their tablets. 

“Why were you getting a blanket? It seems like you're always so warm.” Peter was curious. He heard Steve’s breath hitch and immediately backpedaled. “You don’t have to answer that. I didn’t mean anything by it.” 

“No it’s alright. It’s just...” Steve explained his relationship with being cold. He’d long discovered that actively repressing his fears and feelings from others wasn’t good for him. Granted, he usually still did it, but he didn’t want to portray that image to Peter, who was fairly knew to the superhero business. He wanted Peter to feel okay talking about his feelings. 

Peter listened attentively. He assured Steve that it totally made sense and thanked him again for sharing his bed. Steve went off to take a shower and Peter just relaxed on the bed with his earbuds in. He had both heaters directed at him as well as two blankets. 

“Hey, Steve, I wanted to talk to you about-“ Tony had come into Steve’s room, without knocking as usual, to ask him if he was really enjoying his time here. Steve seemed hesitant about skiing already and he wasn’t exactly as enthusiastic as everyone else. He was also going to apologize about the teasing because he may have had a slight crush on his childhood hero and couldn’t bear the thought of Steve being mad at him.  
“-Sorry Peter, I thought this was Steve’s-“ 

“-Hey Tony!” Steve greeted him as he came back from the bathroom. 

“Who’s room is this?” Tony actively tried not to ogle the super solider clad in only a towel. 

“Mine” Steve informed him. “Were you looking for someone else?”

“No...Don’t I have enough rooms for everyone?” Tony questioned “I could’ve sworn there was the exact number for everyone to get their own. I didn’t even hear people talking about doubling up.” 

“We didn’t have to double up Mr. Stark. It just happened. I can leave if you need to talk in private.” 

Why were they sleeping in the same room? In the same bed? Tony was so deep in thought that he almost didn’t notice Peter shifting on the bed. 

“Well, I’m just going to assume you want that privacy. I’ll be in my room for the next hour watching Netflix if you need me.” Peter exited through the doorway, warily staring at Tony, who hadn’t spoken as much as normal.

“Um,” Tony tore his eyes from the bed where Peter was sitting, but avoided Steve’s face because he was sure he’d say or do something stupid. “I just wanted to see how you were liking the trip?” 

“I’ve been having fun!” Steve answered enthusiastically. 

“So you and Peter have been rooming together?” 

“Yep, last night we decided that-“ Steve blushed because he usually wasn’t very vocal about his PTSD.

“-It’s okay. I’m actually pretty tired. Skiing really takes it out of you. I’m going to go to sleep. Goodnight.” 

Before Steve could even process it, Tony was gone. He felt a little awkward. Making conversation with Tony never seemed this forced or awkward. In fact, he may have had a giant little crush on the man who helped him adjust to the modern world. It wasn’t crazy for Tony to be exhausted though so Steve tried not to think too much about it. Eventually, Peter came back and the boys snuggled up for a good nights sleep.

Tony, in the other hand, couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about what was going on a few doors down. He’d never really considered it before, but all things considered, they weren’t really that different age-wise. Peter was in his early twenties and, if you didn’t count the ice, Steve was in his late twenties. It was only a six year difference. They were both seemingly innocent people - didn’t swear, blushed at Tony’s inappropriate jokes...

Tony’s mind drifted to images of Steve’s pink cheeks. He purposely made more jokes around the man because of that adorable expression. It was one of many faces that Tony couldn’t get enough of - Steve laughing at his favorite sitcom, Steve intensely staring at his unfinished artwork, Steve giving the puppy dog eyes to try and convince the team to participate in an activity, Steve scolding Clint for reckless behavior, Steve fussing over Tony’s small injuries, basically any expression Steve made. 

He was shocked out of his tangent when his mind snapped back to the original topic. Steve was with Peter. Apparently, Tony had misread the signs. Steve’s ‘flirting’ was just him being friendly. He shouldn’t of read too much into it. For Christ’s sake, he was eleven years older and nowhere near as muscular as the enchanted superhero. Tony sighed and rolled over. It was going to be a long night. 

The next day, Steve and Peter were ready to join everyone else on the black diamond route on the top of the mountain. They were still more cautious than the rest of the crowd - trying to determine the layout of the twisty trail.

“Steve and I will go down slow this time so feel free to speed ahead,” Peter called out cheerfully.

Steve? Of course it wouldn’t be Mr. Rogers anymore. Tony winced while Natasha and Sam raced down the slopes. 

His brooding was interrupted by a whistle echoing off the snowy mountain peaks accompanied by a large object whizzing right toward them. 

A fucking alien. Clearly, the universe never wanted any of the Avengers to ever relax so they spent most of their vacation day fighting off slimy creatures from another realm. To make matters worse, a blizzard started up near the tail end. Steve, Peter, and Tony were forced to spend the night in a cabin near the top of the mountain while the others, who had fought near the bottom, successfully found their cabin. At least the cell service worked so they were able to contact each other and Fury about the situation. 

Tony was muttering a string of curses as he entered the dingy old place. It clearly wasn't made to be lived in as there was only one room with a couch and a pantry of canned goods. There was an extensive first aid kit and a large basket full of warm emergency blankets. The men hypothesized that it was a backup in case patrol workers got stuck on top of the mountain. 

“How’re you holding up?” Steve asked Peter.

“I’m fine.” Peter said, but Tony could tell by Steve’s face he was concerned. He watched as the larger man sat down on the couch with a couple blankets and patted down the seat next to him, looking expectantly at Peter. Peter obediently sat down and curled up to Steve under the blanket. He was nodding off almost immediately.

Tony felt sick. It must’ve shown on his face because Steve looked at him oddly.

“Are you going to join us?” His voice was unusually timid. Tony shook his head aggressively.

Steve breathed out loudly through his nose. “Tony, it’s cold in here. Come over to the couch and at least warm up. I know you’re upset about me sleeping with Peter, but he isn’t fifteen anymore so I don’t know why you think it’s so weird.” 

Tony hardly whispered back, “Why I think it’s weird? It is weird. You’ve known Peter since he was in high school. Were you pining after him this whole time? He just graduated college for God’s sake. You’re in a relationship with...” His rant tapered off when he saw the confusion in Steve’s eyes. Then he had the audacity to start laughing which woke Peter up.

“Sorry, I’ll stop,” Steve gasped between giggles.

“What’s so funny?” Peter smiled upwards. 

“Tony thinks we’re dating.” 

“What? Why? I’m still dating MJ.” 

“So you’re not even dating? Is this a fuck-buddies thing? Does MJ know?” 

“Tony, what the hell? Don’t say that in front of him?”

“Hey, I’m an adult! And no way.” Peter exclaimed. 

“Why were you guys sharing a bed then?” 

Peter and Steve glanced at each other. They were both unwilling to give away the other’s secret. 

“Spiders can’t thermoregulate.” Peter blurted out.

“And?”

“I get cold really fast and it’s difficult to get warm again. Steve is like a giant furnace.” 

“Thanks.” Steve muttered a bit sarcastically. 

“Why’d you start calling him Steve?” 

“He asked me too.”

“And always staying together while skiing?”

“We both aren’t great at it Tony. It’s nice to learn together.” 

“Why Steve?” 

“Um, well I thought the super serum would make him run extra warm so I asked him.” Peter fidgeted and his eyes darted around. Tony frowned, recognizing the lying face.

“Thank you Peter, but it’s fine. I just really don’t like the cold. It reminds me of when I was in the ice.” Steve shuddered. 

“Is that why you were so apprehensive about skiing?”

“That and the fact that I’d never been before.” 

“I’m an idiot. I should’ve known that you wouldn’t like the cold.” Tony felt like facepalming.

“It’s alright. The invitation still stands if you want to join us. Don’t feel obligated or anything though,” Steve continued as Tony sat down next to him, “Would you really be that upset if Peter and I were dating? I mean, I didn’t really get to know him until you and I made up. By then he was what, nineteen?” 

“I was just...” Tony decided that he had already made a fool of himself today and been inconsiderate of one of his best friends so he might as well continue to bare his soul, “...a little bit jealous. I like you Steve.” 

Steve grinned and kissed Tony, who froze. “I like you too.” 

“Save it until we’re somewhere where I have my own room.” Peter grumbled, but he clearly looked happy for the pair. 

Tony decided their next vacation would be somewhere warm. And it would be private - just him and Steve.


	7. Presents (Starker)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interaction at a party makes Peter insecure about his relationship with Tony.

The lab was filled with the AC/DC song Tony was blasting from the speakers.Peter and Tony were working side by side on their suits. On a visit to Wakanda, Shuri had commented on their technology and made several suggestions for improvements to the suit, As much as Tony wanted to stay aloof and pretend like he could’ve thought of the same things, he couldn’t lie to himself and had to respect the girl for her genius. Peter had immediately started geeking out about everything in her lab and excitedly listened to her proudly explain everything. They became fast friends. Tony knew Peter often fell asleep texting Shuri for suggestions in the lab and providing her with his perspective on inventions she was working on. 

They hadn’t spoken to each other for hours, but it was a comfortable silence. After Peter had a near death experience during his freshman year of college, Tony realized that he couldn’t live without the boy and kissed him. Peter enthusiastically returned the kiss and admitted that he had been crushing on his mentor for a long time. Now, a year after dating, they routinely spent, according to Pepper, ’Too much time in the lab’ working on different inventions for themselves or the rest of the avengers. Tony found his gaze drifting from the wires in his arms to his boyfriend. “Enjoying the view,’ Peter teased, not looking up from his vial of web fluid. “Damn Spidey senses. I can’t even ogle my my boyfriend.” “I don’t think me pointing it out has ever stopped you,” Peter laughed, “guess it’s probably time to go upstairs and eat something?” Tony loved that smile. He just barely held in a contented sigh as he made the first move to leave. Peter quickly followed suit and, once in the kitchen, starting making sandwiches for the both of them. 

“Petey, are you planning on wearing those shoes until they completely disintegrate?” Peter lifted his leg and examined his shoes. The soles were coming off, the laces were frayed, there were holes, and the color was faded. “If there’s an accident in the lab, it’s better to ruin these shoes than a nice pair,’ he shrugged. “You realize your boyfriend is a billionaire who could afford enough ’nice shoes’ for you to wear a different pair ever day,” Tony responded, wrapping his arms around Peter’s shoulders, “And you wear them everywhere, not just the lab. Didn’t I just get you a pair of new sneakers? Or are you just trying to offend me with your terrible fashion sense?” Peter turned around and kissed his cheek, “Well if you’re offering to buy, I always think I’d look good in socks and sandals. Oh, and a fanny pack and a bucket hat. I bet I could totally pull off functional fashion,” he said facetiously. Tony winced, “Actually, I appreciate the science shirts from Walmart now. I think you’re gorgeous enough to pull off any look, babe, but I’d rather not test that theory. Though the best look on you is no clothes.” Tony ran his hand on Peter’s inner thigh and pushed him to sit on the counter. Peter willingly obliged and leaned in for a passionate kiss. “Let’s take this to the bedroom,” he gasped. Tony whined as he broke the kiss to jump from the counter and scoop Tony up in his arms. The sandwiches were already forgotten as they made their way to the bedroom. 

The next day, Tony laid on his arm watching as Peter changed into his clothes for his first class. He wore the same shoes, worn-out jeans, and another T-shirt. Tony couldn’t fathom how Peter enjoyed wearing these clothes, but chalked it up to a difference in taste and in the ways they were raised. During the next couple of weeks, he noticed that Peter wasn’t wearing anything Tony had bought him which was strange. Although he almost always wore his own clothes, he wore the nice dress shirts and the acceptable shoes that Tony had purchased when he had presentations or conferences to attend. Tony knew he also preferred the expensive boxers, but hadn’t been wearing them. 

“So there is another party, some press thing again, and Pepper says I have to go,” Tony spoke nonchalantly as him and Peter curled on the couch, “It’s next Friday. I got a nice suit for you to wear.” Peter swallowed and tilted his face, “Sorry, but I’m actually busy that night.” Tony raised his eyebrows: Peter typically wasn’t busy Friday nights because it was when they went on dates. When he looked at Peter’s serious face and realized that his boyfriend wasn’t about to crack a joke about being lonely, he couldn’t bring himself to ask what else was on that night. Peter jolted up, “I ugh, I actually forgot that I need to be home tonight. I promised Aunt May.” “Bye Tony,” he waved as he pulled on the spider suit and swung out the window. 

Tony’s mind went blank. What was going on? Why didn’t Peter kiss him goodbye? Wait, that wasn’t the main problem. Why was Peter so awkward at the mention of the party? Why did he leave so quickly? That was clearly an excuse. Didn’t he like spending time with Tony? Tony’s mind spun for a bit with questions and insecurities about his relationship. 

Tony stood up from the couch with purpose. The kid was not allowed to just get away with whatever he was hiding. Confusion, anger, and anxiety swirled in his head and clouded his judgment. He called for his Iron Man suit and decided to fly to Queens. He let himself in through the window, ready to interrogate Peter. Tony heard the sound of running water in the bathroom, and without a second thought, he ditched the suit and marched into the bathroom. “Parker, what do you think you’re doing?” He yelled. Peter’s face morphed from defensive to surprised within seconds, “Tony, what? Be quiet, May’s asleep.”

“Don’t lie to me. I know she’s working a night shift right now,” Tony frowned, “Seems like your favorite pastime recently is lying to me. Did your hero worship finally clear away? Have you realized that you’re just dating an old man with a lump of wealth built from immoral means?” He hadn’t meant to let his insecurities leak into his rant, but he wasn’t thinking. His angry expression as he noticed Peter was looking back at him with a horrified, miserable look. “That’s not true,” Peter muttered. Tears started leaking down his cheeks,”I’m so sorry, Tony. I promise I was never in it for the money or the publicity or anything like that. I know that everyone’s been saying stuff about me, but I promise that it’s not true. I love you. Please don’t leave me. I’ll be better.” 

Tony stood speechless as his baby whimpered in the shower and moved to wrap himself in a towel. “What?” 

Peter looked up at him, his lip trembling just a little, “The party…journalist….sugar baby.” He tried to choke out words, but they weren’t making any sense. Tony guided him to the bed and let Peter cry into his shoulder. “Peter, I love you too. I’m not leaving. Did something happen? Are you hurt or sick?” He rubbed his boyfriend’s back and reassured him that he wasn’t going anywhere. Eventually, Peter calmed down, “I’m not dating for your money.” “Of course not,” Tony sternly replied, “How did that idea get into your head?” 

“Well…” Peter recounted the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Woah, Tony this party is really fancy,” Peter exclaimed as he looked around to take it all in. They were surrounded by exorbitant decorations and everyone was dressed to the nines. “Don’t expect anything less from a Tony Stark party, kid,” Tony responded affectionately before they both walked into the room, capturing attention from nearly everyone. Before long, Tony was whisked away with Pepper to make the rounds and gather up some good PR so Peter sat down at a table with some food. A nicely dressed man sat down next to him, “Parties not your thing?” Peter nodded, mouth stuffed with hors d'oeuvres. The man laugh and extended a hand, “The name’s Robert. Nice to meet you.” Peter introduced himself and continued the small talk. They talked for a while about the party. 

Peter felt a hand rest on his leg. He tilted his head in confusion, “Mr. Robert?” The man gave a smirk, “Want to have some fun?” Peter quickly realized what the man wanted and shook him off, “No. I’m with-“ “Stark” Robert cut in, “That doesn’t mean you can’t try other options. I’m sure I’d also be able to afford you baby.” “No” Peter stated more firmly. “What a loyal sugar baby,” Robert cooed, sending a shiver down Peter’s spine, and tried once again to touch him. When Peter swatted his hand away again, Robert grumbled and backed off, “Stupid slut.” 

Peter trembled a bit as he made his way to the bathroom. He splashed some water on his face. When he turned around, he saw that Robert had followed him in. “You’re deluding yourself if you think Stark will keep you around forever. You should grow a brain and start looking for your next Daddy before this one throws you out in the cold, all alone.” Peter tried to defend himself, but the man kept rattling off about Tony’s old partners and how long they had lasted. Peter’s mind started to wander.

They really didn’t go out very much. A lot of times they were either in the lab or having sex. “No, Tony loves me,” Peter thought with finality, “He’s told me so.” He walked out and met back up with Tony. Although he had convinced himself, he noticed every time Tony was too busy to spend time with him or couldn’t go out in public. He knew Tony was busy and that there were a lot of paparazzi. He knew that Tony didn’t want him in the limelight to preserve his identity and his youth, but the insecurities kept sinking in. 

And then Tony mentioned that party. He felt himself about to boil over so he rushed home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tony listened to Peter’s story and could feel the anger course through his body. Who was this man to hit on his boyfriend? To make him feel insecure and unworthy. 

“Is that why you never wore any of the things I bought you?” 

“I don’t need them Tony. I just need you,” Peter responded. 

“I know you don’t need them Petey. I give them to you because I love you and I want to spoil you. It makes me happy to give you gifts that make you happy. I’m not doing it as some exchange for sex.”

Peter studied Tony’s face for a moment before deciding to believe his words and pressing a kiss to him. 

“Want to come back to the tower?” Tony gestured to Peter. “I’ll call a car for us.” Peter nodded, “sorry for doubting you.” 

“It’s alright baby. You just need to let me know if you’re feeling insecure, okay? I want to be able to help you through these things. Can you promise me that you’ll communicate this stuff?” 

Peter nodded again. 

Needless to say, due to an unfortunate accident, Robert lost his job and was blacklisted all over New York. He was banned from all Stark Industry events for life.


	8. Not Quite So Innocent (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky reveals that Steve isn’t exactly the innocent boy that all the Avengers assumed he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **5+1 Formatting

Life was good in the Avengers tower. The whole team, and some new additions, were getting along as well as they could at the renovated Avengers Tower. HYDRA was weak. Natasha and Bruce were in a solid relationship. All the rogue Avengers made peace with those who stayed behind and any grudges dissipated. SHIELD learned to mind their own business. Steve and Tony were hopelessly in love, but too stupid to confront each other about it. And Bucky destroyed the Winter Soldier. 

This meant that Steve’s best friend was slowly integrating into the team. Natasha and Steve were the first to fully welcome him. They introduced him to some aspects of modern life and explained team dynamics. Peter, amazed with his metal arm, quickly warmed up to the ex-assassin and became his training buddy in a class taught by Clint. Frequent visits to Tony’s lab resulted in a warm friendship between Bucky and Tony. Sam maintained a teasing competition with Bucky for the title of Steve’s BFF. Everyone else realized what a nice guy Steve’s friend was and in the blink of an eye, he was a member of their family.

Bucky was just shifting to a more comfortable position on the couch when Clint started snickering obnoxiously. He rolled his eyes. Their tradition of a monthly movie night was almost always the same, give or take a few people. Steve, sandwiched between Tony and Bucky, took the couch. Natasha and Bruce had a large cushy chair. Peter and Clint laid across bean bags. Wanda, Vision, and Pietro shared a love seat. Sam had the loveseat. Everyone else, who didn’t live at the tower, just rotated through, either sharing with Sam or pulling up chairs from around the tower. 

Tony muttered about scientific inaccuracies. Steve and Bucky had questions. Clint made stupid comments. Tonight was no exception.

“Better cover your eyes Cap,” Clint sarcastically called out as the woman on screen began to unbutton her shirt, “This next scene might offend your delicate sensibilities.” 

Bucky looked at Steve questioningly. Steve immediately realized what he wanted and sighed. “They like to think I’m a totally innocent Boy Scout or something.” 

“Stevie? Innocent?” He glanced around the room in a little bit of shock. 

“I’m sure Steve was a real bad boy in the forties, but not helping an old lady cross the street isn’t exactly treasonous anymore.” Tony quipped.

The rest of the attendees giggled before returning their attention to the screen. Steve just shrugged like he was used to it.

In the coming weeks, there would be five times Bucky showed the Avengers Steve wasn’t the nun they thought he was, and one time he was exactly that. 

1\. 

“Wow! This place is amazing! I can’t believe I’m actually in France!” Peter cried, practically bouncing off the walls due to his excitement. He’d never even left the country before, besides Germany, and he was in awe of the architecture.

“Wouldn’t the skyscrapers in New York be better for your skills? Sam asked, watching Peter stare at the old hotel they booked for a few nights. Tony, Bucky, and Steve all passed them to check in and get situated. 

“I love swinging from skyscrapers, but this is much prettier.” Peter grinned before rushing inside. The interior was amazing as well. The owners had done a great job at incorporating that antique look into the five star establishment. 

“Calm down kid. Everyone’s going to shower and have some time for R&R before dinner. We’ll do all the sightseeing you want tomorrow.” Tony began to wearily make his way up the stairs. Him and Sam were pretty beat. The other three, given their enhanced healing, weren’t as worse for wear. By dinner time, Bucky, Steve, and Peter were waiting in the lobby for Sam and Tony to get ready. 

A gasp erupted from the other side of the room and immediately, all three men were on edge. They relaxed when it was revealed that the woman wasn’t in any trouble, she was just a staff member who recognized Steve.

Steve was conversing with the star struck women in French when Tony and Sam came down.

He speaks French? Tony thought as he watched the sight. That is so sexy. His mind momentarily drifted to laying in his penthouse bed. Steve was right above him, whispering dirty things in French. He leaned toward Steve’s face and...

“Coming?” Peter was looking over his shoulder at Tony with a confused look on his face. The other three were already several yards away, listening to the animated speech of the employee. Tony rushed to catch up with them and see what the commotion was about. 

That’s when he saw the picture of Steve on the wall. He was devilishly handsome in his military uniform and he was smirking in a way that Tony knew would appear in some of his fantasies. 

Snap out of it.

The photo was of showed Steve casually sitting on a barstool with a drink in his hand. It was clearly from the 1940’s when he was fighting WWII. The caption read, in French and English, “Captain America visiting during his leave in 1942.” 

“Woah, you were here seventy years ago?!” Peter closely examined the picture. “It looks so different.” 

“They must’ve renovated this place, because I don’t think Stevie and I ever visited anywhere this swanky.” Bucky glanced around the room. “Come to think of it, I don’t remember staying in any hotels. We didn’t have the money for that.” 

“Me neither” Steve’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration. 

“Talk on the way, I’m starving.” Sam whined and Steve laughed. Tony led them to his favorite French restaurant where they sat down for a meal.

Peter moaned when he took the first bite of food, “This is literally the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” The others all hummed in agreement and pointedly looked away from the ridiculous list of prices.

“I know what that hotel was!” Bucky’s head suddenly jolted up like a lightbulb had gone off in his brain. 

Everyone looked at him with varying degrees of confusion. 

“Was it not a hotel?” Sam interjected between bites of food.

“Nope. Remember Monique?” He was facing Steve, who tilted his head a bit to think.

“Oh. Oh. OH.” 

Bucky grinned mischievously at Steve’s recognition.

“You gonna spill the beans or what?” Tony quipped. 

“Stevie and I ran into this dame one night during our nighttime wandering and she took us back to that hotel. Except for it wasn’t no hotel back then.”

“You hooked up with a girl in a brothel?!” Tony spat out before realizing that Peter, who despite being eighteen now was still a child in his mind, was sitting right next to him. 

“I only played cards.” Steve defended himself.

“He’s pretty decent at playing.” Bucky agreed “We hung out there for a few nights and he made a bit of money. We used the francs to have a nice meal before going back to the front line.” 

Steve’s eyes glazed over as he remembered that peaceful evening he and Bucky shared before returning to the chaos of war. 

“Captain America was off gambling and drinking in brothels during the war?” Sam teased. “I always thought you would be the bad influence.” He looked at Bucky.

“Buck was involved in all of the shenanigans.” Steve added “But what did you think I did?” 

“I don’t know - didn’t really ever think about it too much. I guess that you trained and thought about the flag or something...” Sam was clearly teasing.

Peter chimed in “Are you sure you didn’t just practice a bunch of speeches about integrity or something?”

Bucky and Steve both snorted at them. 

“And to think I thought you were a good role model...” Tony added. “We should play cards sometime though.”

“I thought you didn’t like cards Mr. Stark?”

“That’s because they get boring easily. Challenging Captain America, who’s supposedly good at cards, might be more interesting” If Tony felt a bit of warmth of getting to spend some more time with Steve, well, no one had to know.

2\. 

Clint hobbled into the main room where the rest of the team were patching themselves up. Early on, Bruce had insisted on having at least one room constantly stocked with basic medical supplies. In true Stark fashion, Tony had a giant room built with everything the team could need post-mission. It also contained experimental drugs that Bruce had cooked up in his chemistry lab. 

But if, like Clint, you had a more serious injury, you were forced to check in at one of the specialized rooms in the medbay which had doctors on call after every mission. Even though the visits were mandatory, most individuals required coaxing from Steve and Bruce or they would ditch treatment. With everyone’s history, they were either too distrustful or doctors, too self-sacrificing, or too proud to go on their own. 

This included Clint who, after spraining his ankle jumping from the second story of a building, pretended he was completely fine by trying to walk back to the Quinjet. He failed spectacularly, groaned and fell into Natasha’s waiting arms before Steve carried him the rest of the way flashing the patented ‘I’m disappointed you tried to lie’ face the whole time. 

Now that he was all fixed up, he joined the rest of the team. Natasha had a ice pack against her lower rib cage. Bruce was helping Tony put antibiotics on his wounds. Steve and Bucky were just trying to get any dirt out before their cuts closed over, they were immune to infections and scars anyway. Fortunately, it was an easy mission so the whole team wasn’t assembled. No one was hurt badly.

“I’m hungry” Clint whined. “Y’all are fine. Let’s go eat something.” 

“Calm down for ten minutes and let us fix ourselves first. You’re going to give me a headache.” Natasha complained.

“Tony” Clint dragged the name out, sounding like a child.

“Fine, JARVIS order us ten pizzas with the usual toppings. Is that alright with everyone?”

“Fuck yeah!” Clint excitedly exclaimed. For some unknown reason, he got hyper after missions as long as they weren’t utterly horrifying, and this was no exception.

“Language,” Tony said in a mocking tone. 

Bucky looked at him in confusion. “I’ve heard you say worse.” 

“That was for the benefit of Spangles over here.” 

“Steve?”

“The one and only.”

Bucky turned his confused expression toward his best friend. “What is he talking about?”

“I-“

“-In one of our missions together, Tony swore over the comm and Steve called him on it like that.” 

“And that’s relevant because?” Bucky seemed like he got it a little bit, but still wasn’t quite understanding.

“It’s just a joke since Steve doesn’t like swearing.” Tony contributed. 

“Is that a new thing?” Bucky directed the question at Steve. “You never used to have an issue with swearing. In fact-“

“-Nope” 

Now it was Tony, Natasha, and Clint’s turn to be confused. 

Bucky whispered something so quiet that only Steve, with his enhanced hearing, could pick up. Steve gave a full belly laugh before talking at a normal volume. “I wasn’t that bad-“

“You swore like a sailor. There was so much feistiness trapped in your tiny body. I’m pretty sure you would explode if you didn’t pick a fight with one of those bullies-“

“-They started it. And I didn’t always swear during-“

“-Yes you did.” 

The super soliders continued to speak over each other with a good natured tone. Bucky had an eyebrow raised and Steve was trying to look stoic. Both of their lips were twitching upwards as they surpassed giggles. 

“Why the hell did you call me out when I swore then?” Tony interrupted their little inside jokes. He definitely wasn’t jealous.

“We were in the middle of the fight and I’m the captain. You have to be professional for duty.”

“Yep, Stevie would filter his words in front of his commander and around children and dames. Sorry, women. If he was around close friends or in a bar though...”

Steve tossed a teasing glare Bucky’s way. 

“So you just let them think you never swore?” 

“I had better things to worry about. You know the whole missing seventy years of the world and being thrown into another superhero gig kinda took precedence.”

Natasha leaned back and smiled. “You’ve finally decided to come clean?” 

“You knew?” Clint squawked. “Why’d you let Tony and I constant joke about it? You even joined in.”

“I thought it was cute that you thought Steve didn’t swear because he was old.”

“How? He doesn’t swear in the tower.” Tony was thinking back through his interactions with Steve. There were a few times a curse word had slipped out and Tony would immediately tease him about it. He thought it was a cute inside joke.

“Who do you think helped with his technology training when he was defrosted? The first time he broke his ‘respectful gentleman’ facade around me he said-“

“Nat don’t” Steve was beginning to blush.

“Come on it wasn’t even bad.”

“Yeah, but it was-“

“He said ‘Applesauce! This damn blower is a load of nonsense’”

Natasha was curled over on herself and shaking in silent laughter. She patted Steve’s shoulder. 

“And it only got worse from there. Once he realized that he didn’t have to hold his tongue around women anymore, his hatred for modern devices was very clear.” 

Clint and Bucky were in tears at Steve’s embarrassment. Tony put on his best amused face, but he was honestly a bit sad that Steve was so much more open with Natasha than him.

3\. 

Tony cupped his mug with both hands and greedily chugged his coffee. DUM-E broke the machine in his lab so he hadn’t had a cup in several hours. He was having serious caffeine withdrawals and needing to talk to Scott Lang wasn’t helping.

Bucky was on one of the stools near the countertop reading the physical newspaper he shared with Steve. Scott and Sam were discussing something about flying while they waited for Tony’s attention. Apparently, it had something to do with Hank’s technology.

Steve entered the kitchen and rushed toward the fridge for the pitcher of cold water. He poured himself a glass and drank it all at once. Some of the water missed and dribbled down his chest. 

Maybe I should come upstairs for coffee more often. 

Tony’s thoughts were interrupted by Bucky eagerly rustling the papers and beckoning Steve over. “Doesn’t this look like Charlie?” 

Bucky wiggled his eyebrows at Steve, who closely studied the picture. Seeing Bucky’s clearly devious expression, the other three gathered around to see a photo of a baseball player in the sports section.

“It’s like a mirror image. Maybe he’s a relative?” Steve suggested 

“So...”

“Nope. That’s gross.”

“What’s gross? Who’s Charlie?” Scott chimed in.

“Charlie was Stevie’s friend.” Bucky answered suggestively “I think they have a name these days. They were...” Bucky trailed off in thought before snapping and lifting his head up “Friends with Benefits!” 

Tony choked on his coffee. 

“I didn’t think Steve Rogers was the fuck buddy type.” Sam observed with a bit of surprise.

“You couldn’t exactly court a fella in those times.” Steve shrugged.

“You like men? What about Peggy?” Scott wondered allowed before adding “You don’t have to answer that.” 

Steve wasn’t offended. “I’ve always liked men and women. It’s pretty great that nowadays so many people are accepting of that. They even have a name for it - bisexual.”

“He was more popular with men than women before the serum and popular with both afterwards.” Bucky informed them. “Sorry, Stevie, I didn’t mean to share your business. I thought in modern times there wouldn’t be any issues telling others.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s a shame that war made it so hard to develop a relationship with someone afterwards though.” 

“Bisexual Captain America” Sam mused “It’s kinda funny all those hate groups that use you as their symbol of conservative life are involuntarily looking up to a bisexual man.” 

Steve sighed. “I really wish they would stop.” 

Tony stared at the photo again. I’m as handsome as this guy. If Steve likes men, maybe I’ve got a shot.

4\. 

Tony stood on his tiptoes to kiss Steve on the cheek. “I got you a surprise babe!” Steve grinned and took the box from Tony. Clint rolled his eyes. “Can’t you guys flirt somewhere else. It’s only been three weeks and I’m pretty sure I’m this close to getting diabetes.” 

Steve ignored him and carefully lifted the lid from the fairly large box. “These are...”

Inside were stacks of old photos, trinkets, and pictures from the war. His blue eyes raked over the contents with reverence.

“It’s Howard’s old stuff.”

Steve winced a bit. As much as he appreciated the stuff, it was still a little bit weird how obsessed Howard was with him. Tony patted his shoulder in understanding. On their second date, Tony had mentioned how he’d loved Captain America as a child and that he owned lots of posters and action figures. Quickly, he realized Steve’s uncomfortable squirming and convinced Steve to admit that things like that made him feel insecure. It was like all these people were looking up to him as some kind of god and he didn’t think he deserved it. Tony didn’t bring up the subject again for his sake. 

“Thanks”

Clint came over a plucked a painting of a building from the center. “These are really good Steve.” He admired some of the other drawings. Tony was picking through old photos and admiring his boyfriend in the old military uniforms. Steve was nostalgically rubbing his old dog tags between his fingers. 

A couple of hours later Bucky and Peter came in to see Clint, Tony, Bruce, and Steve sitting on the living room floor in a pile of stuff. Tony had decided to get all the other boxes driven over from storage. Most of it was propaganda stuff, Steve didn’t own much, but occasionally they would find something meaningful and Steve would tell a story or stare of into space with a slight smile.

“What’s all this?” Peter curiously examined a certificate of some kind by his feet. Bucky recognized it pretty quickly and Steve pointed to a pile on his left. 

“This stuff has you in in.” 

Bucky grinned and made his way over to the photos and drawings of him. 

“This guy is naked!” Peter squealed at the picture in his hand. “Why did they take a picture like that?”

“You’re looking pretty intently at him Cap. What’s that in your hand?” Clint teased.

Steve glanced at the picture. His puzzled expression relaxed in recognition. He grabbed the picture and showed it to Bucky and Tony. “Remember those camera men, Buck?”

“Yep, they wanted a candid of ‘Captain America sharing a barrack with his fellow soliders’. It was going to go near recruitment stations. They didn’t want the men to stiffen up and pose so they decided to just burst in unannounced one day and took a picture.”

“I was a little busy. I don’t think this was exactly what they wanted. The posed one we did the next day was better.”

“Really? They didn’t want Captain America staring at someone’s dick all over the U.S.? I’m shocked. Was he hung or what? Your stare is pretty intense there.”

“There are children in the room.” Tony scolded. Why was Steve staring at this naked guy? It makes sense that the man would be naked in his room, but that look seems a bit much for a comrade or fuck buddy.

“Like I even remember. Why so curious Hawkeye?” Steve scoffed. 

“You spent like an hour sketching this guy and you can’t even remember what he looked like? He’s probably rolling in his grave.” Bucky laughed.

“You were drawing him?” Tony questioned.

“He saved my ass once and I owed him a favor. He knew about my artist skills and asked for a drawing to send back to his lady. His hand was covering the naughty parts.” 

Bucky rolled his eyes. “It took you forever to agree.”

“What if it came out weird?” Steve retorted.

“You guys were sexting during the war?” Peter giggled.

“Sexting?” Bucky didn’t understand.

Peter had to spend the next few minutes explaining the term to all the old men in the room. 

5\. 

“Whoops” Tony’s hand slipped and Bucky’s fingers started to vibrate. He’d agreed to help Bucky with an issue he’d been having with his arm so they were down in the lab. Steve was relaxing on the couch drawing pictures of the robots. 

“Everything alright?” Steve glanced up from his sketchbook with concern. 

“Yep. Just dislodged a wire. I’ll be able to fix it in less than a minute.” Then, feeling the vibrations against his arm, Tony had a thought. “Do you want your hand to vibrate? I’m sure the ladies would appreciate it.”

“Have you been dating?” Steve directed his attention at Bucky. His voice didn’t reveal a negative or positive connotation, just surprise. Bucky hadn’t really been interested in dating since he’d been unfrozen. He was still nervous about getting triggered and he needed some time to figure out who he was apart from HYDRA’s conditioning. Hell, he didn’t even have all of his memories back. There were still moments when someone mentioned something and a very specific memory would flood his brain. 

“No. I’m still not ready. I’d tell you first though.” Bucky and Steve shared a smile.

“That’s okay.” Steve picked his pencil back up. He never judged Bucky for his decisions. That was one of the reasons Bucky quickly warmed up to Steve. Even when he could barely remember Steve, his kind and caring side made it easy for the boys to become friends again. 

“You aren’t even going to ask what the vibrations are for?” Tony looked at the super soldiers. He was certain that would get a rise out of them. He loved seeing the blush on Steve’s face. Just yesterday, he’d discovered what BDSM was and he went bright red. 

“I can imagine what they’re for.” Bucky smirked “I think I don’t need it attached to my arm though. I’ll buy my girl a toy that does that if she wants one.” 

“Wouldn’t want it to go off during battle either.” Steve absentmindedly added.

Now Tony was shocked. He could tell Steve was slightly uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, but it wasn’t even intense. It seemed more like his old-fashioned ‘you shouldn’t talk about sex in public’ sensibilities than anything to do with the topic. 

Bucky must’ve noticed Tony’s reaction because he leaned in and whispered in the scientist’s ear. Steve probably would’ve heard if not for being absorbed in his work. “Stevie’s owned plenty of those types of toys.” 

The sound of Tony coughing echoed against the metal walls of the lab. 

“Are you okay?” Steve got up from his seat and patted Tony’s back. “Honey, you can’t talk and tinker and drink at the same time.” 

The endearment and the touch got Tony thinking again to what caused the outburst. He looked at Bucky who seemed thoroughly amused by the situation. 

“You were joking!”

“No I wasn’t” 

“What was Buck joking about?” 

“He said that you’d owned plenty of sex toys and made me choke.” Tony glared at Bucky before looking at Steve who immediately averted his gaze. Tony was about to celebrate his victory by gloating in front of Bucky, but was interrupted by Steve’s soft voice. 

“Would that be a problem?” 

He wasn’t denying it? Bucky stuck out his tongue like a child. Steve was still looking away. It must be true.

“Ah. No. It’s not a problem. It’s not a problem at all. I wasn’t upset when I choked. That was just surprise.” They hadn’t slept together yet, so Steve hadn’t really had the chance to see Tony’s stash of sex toys. 

Steve rose an eyebrow at Tony before his face relaxed into relief. “Okay!” He happily sat back down on the couch. “Will you be done soon? I think we should have dinner.” 

“Wait you’re not going to talk about it?”

“What’s there to talk about?” Steve looked confused. Bucky’s expression was puzzled. 

“I think it’s pretty simple. You buy them and you use them. You’re a science man - you probably actually know how they work. What’d need Stevie’s explanation for?”

Tony realized it was probably a pretty stupid question so he clarified: “I meant, did they even have sex toys during world war two?”

“They were marketed as beauty products or medicine, but yeah. Not as many types as nowadays though.” Steve explained. 

“Didn’t Howard make you one? It seemed pretty similar to some of these fancy modern ones.” Steve swatted Bucky hard. 

“WHAT?” Tony yelled. 

“Don’t talk about his father like that. Sorry Tones. He didn’t mean to offend you.” Steve glared at Bucky. 

“Yep. Sorry, Stark. I’m gonna go take a shower.” Bucky closed his the panel on his fixed up arm and left the lab. 

“Did he really? Why did Bucky know about this?” 

Steve winced at Tony’s question and made to apologize again, but Tony shook his head, “Not offended or mad. Just shocked.” 

Steve shrugged. “We lived together. I didn’t always wait for him to leave to…” 

“Why Howard?”

“Well, the serum was made to make the perfect solider. That included enhanced reproductive urges. It was starting to affect me a bit so Howard invented something to relieve the tension.”

“You were constantly horny?” 

Steve blushed. Finally. “That’s one way to say it I guess.”

“What changed?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you aren’t constantly horny anymore.”

“Who said that?”

Tony’s mouth just gaped open. “It doesn’t affect…you don’t show…”

“Better toys. Better control. Better understanding.” Steve’s tone was casual. 

“Why haven’t we slept together?” Tony blurted out. “I haven’t been pushing it because I thought inexperience or embarrassment would be at play, but it seems like neither of those apply. Do you just not want to be with me?” His voice grew soft. 

“No. Of course not. I’m very attracted to you.” Steve wrapped Tony in a hug. “You have no idea how hard it is to control myself around you sometimes. I just haven’t ever really been in a relationship. I didn’t really know when it was appropriate to. And you weren’t pushing so…”

“We’re idiots.” 

“Yeah.”

6.

“Are you crying?” 

“Maybe.” Steve sniffled from his spot on the couch. “It’s just so sad. Simba doesn’t deserve this.”

Tony ran his finger through Steve’s blonde hair and nodded. “He really doesn’t.”


	9. Old School (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve’s experience with past homophobes causes him to freak out when Tony initiates PDA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: References to Historical Homophobia

“It’s good, right?” Tony gleefully questions his boyfriend. Steve hums in contentment to validate Tony’s choice of drink. For their third date, Steve had suggested a relaxing picnic in Central Park. Of course, storm clouds had to release a downpour to rain on their parade. Tony salvaged the afternoon by suggesting a fancy coffee shop he visited often due to its location near the Stark Industries building.

So, the boys had gotten in the car and driven to the shop. The inside of the shop was warm and surprisingly homey. The lights were dimmed and there was a wide selection of seating choices ranging from wooden chairs for focusing to squishy booths near the window. After Tony ordered ‘the usual’ and suggested a drink for Steve to try, they sat down on the soft seats next to the largest window. It was comforting to watch the raindrops stick and then drizzle down the glass. The sound of water on the roof was relaxing white noise, just loud enough to be heard, but not enough to be obnoxious.

Once their drinks were served, Tony took a large sip and gave an exaggerated moan. He made sure Steve liked his as well. They slowly dipped their drinks while they conversed about different light topics. Tony recalled how he had made DUM-E and recounted some of the silly mistakes he’d made in the lab. Although Steve made a concerned face when Tony admitted to drinking a bit of motor oil from the machine’s “coffee”, the rest of the stories had him smiling and laughing.

Tony looked at his face fondly. God, he would do anything in the world to keep that smile on Steve’s face. The way his skin crinkled around his piercing blue eyes and his perfect teeth shone made the genius feel a warmth throughout his body. It was like the all the brightness in the room was focused on Steve. Everything else was blurred to the background.

Before he knew it, he was leaning forward and kissing Steve. It was romantic. He could taste the coffee on his date’s tongue and hear the rain continue to drop. That is, it was romantic until Tony realized Steve was frozen. He had gone completely stiff and he was definitely not kissing back.

At that realization, Tony immediately pulled back to see what was wrong. It wasn’t like that was their first kiss together. Tony saw fear flash across Steve’s eyes and before he could even ask about what had happened, Steve was exiting the coffee shop.

What the hell? 

Finally, Tony came to his senses, left a tip, and rushed out the door, but Steve was nowhere to be seen. He ran to the car to see if Steve was waiting there, but felt his stomach fall when he didn’t see another person anywhere nearby the parking lot. He decided to get in a drive back to the tower in the hopes that Steve would be there.

In the meantime, Steve was walking back in the rain. He had brought a jacket and the tower was only about a twenty minute walk at his pace. He brushed a finger along his own lips and blushed. He hadn’t meant to run away, but as soon as Tony’s lips hit his, all he could think was “Danger. I need to leave right now.” 

Steve hadn’t exactly been in a relationship since he was thawed out. Even before he was thawed, he didn’t get around much. There had been the few blind dates Natasha set him up on in the beginning and a couple dates with a male SHIELD agent who eventually admitted he was only attracted to his body, but nothing serious. In the thirties, PDA hadn’t been much of a thing and PDA between a gay couple was unheard of. Those who tried to show their love in open spaces were jailed, killed, or chemically castrated. They became outcasts of society. They were deviants in the eyes of their peers. Everything had to be done in privacy to ensure that the relationship was safe. 

Those memories were what flashed through Steve’s head when Tony kissed him. He remembered asking his teacher a hypothetical question about boys liking boys and getting a condescending answer about how young boys should not choose to be so fruity. He remembers seeing a boy covered in bruises after his admitting, the day before, of his feelings to his male crush were overheard. He remembered his friend being kicked out of the house and an acquaintance losing his job. Those events might have been nearly nine decades old, but they were very fresh in Steve’s mind.

What was playful and affectionate in Tony’s mind was a death wish to Steve. He didn’t want to be ostracized, but most of all, he didn’t want Tony to face even more criticism than he already did because of him. 

He took a few calming breaths before entering the tower. “Times have changed. Being gay is socially acceptable,” repeated in his mind, but it was still a little difficult to internalize. He really needed to apologize to Tony.

“JARVIS, where is Tony?” Steve stared up at the ceiling expectantly. “He is in the workshop,” the robot responded, but surprisingly it sounded slightly colder than usual. 

Steve approached the door and sighed. He knocked a couple of times before Tony ordered JARVIS to unlock the door. “Hey, Tony.” Steve waited for the man to turn around and face him. 

As soon as he saw Steve, Tony immediately asked “Did I do something wrong? I can’t think of anything specific, but I’m sure there’s something. Please just let me know and I’ll fix it. I’m so sorry.”

“There’s nothing wrong. It’s just well...Um, in my day two fellas couldn’t just kiss in a public place.” Steve ran a hand through his damp hair to relax a bit. “I’m really sorry I pulled away. I still want to date you. That was just a little scary.” 

Tony’s eyes widened in realization. He’d read about how gay men were treated during Steve’s era. He knew the risks of being discovered and he’d heard about the multitude of slurs and other demeaning reactions from society. How did he not remember that? 

“Oh, Stevie. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Ever since I came out as bisexual to the public, I’ve never tried to hide any relationships. I didn’t really think about how you’d feel. Sometimes I forget you’ve only been here for less than a decade.” 

Steve’s shoulder sagged in relief and he beamed at Tony. “Maybe someday I’ll build up the nerve to do something in public, but for now, can we continue where we left off?” 

And how could Tony refuse anything Steve said with that beautiful smile across his face?


	10. Self-Care (Platonic Peter and Bucky)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter introduces Bucky to face masks.

“You look like a Smurf.” Both super soldiers could hear Clint’s amused voice all the way down the hallway.

“Better than you. You could pass for the Tin Man right now.” Peter was giggling as he teased Clint. 

Steve and Bucky shared a grin because they got that reference before deciding to go investigate. They’d been held late at SHIELD filling out some tedious paperwork and were comforted by the cheery sounds from the living room. 

“This is similar to the war paint used by warriors back home!” Thor enthusiastically boomed as the other two men entered the room. “Hello Steven and James! How was your trip?”

“It wasn’t bad.” Steve answered. He took in the sight before him. Clint was seated on the floor with his back against the couch. His face was entirely gray. Peter and Thor were both lounging across the couch. They each had a headband on and their faces were also covered. Peter’s was a bluish color while Thor had a pretty intricate mix of blue and grey that Steve assumed mimicked war paint. 

“What’s on your face?” Bucky was curiously examining Thor’s face.

“Face masks!” Peter exclaimed “MJ gave me some clay ones after finals finished. She says she thought I could use them, which I’m hoping wasn’t an insult. Do you want one?” 

Bucky opened his mouth to refuse, but before anything came out, he made eye contact with Peter’s pleading puppy dog eyes. “Yes.” His voice betrayed him and suddenly Peter was dragging him by his metal arm to the nearby bathroom. “You’ve gotta wash your face first.” He handed him a wash cloth and some face soap that looked expensive. 

Once his face was washed, Peter helped him put on a neon pink headband and held up two jars. “This one is for de-stressing. It has deep sea minerals apparently. This one is cleansing and pore cleaning. It’s got volcanic ash. Which one do you want?” 

“Surprise me.”

Peter smiled and put down the volcanic ash one. He put his finger in the blue, de-stressing one and spread it thinly across Bucky’s forehead.

“I can do it myself.”

“Nope. It’ll be uneven and you’ll miss spots.” Peter continued spreading the mask all over his face. “There we go! Now you just need to wait ten minutes. Don’t talk or smile too much or it’ll crack around your mouth.” Bucky nodded, unable to point out that he neither talked nor smiled that often anyway. 

“Steve. It’s your turn now!” Peter abruptly stood up and grabbed Steve to give him the same treatment. In a matter of minutes, Steve was also adorning the blue mask. 

“Have we been attacked by Na’vi?” Tony joked as he came into the room. A timer went off and Clint moved to the bathroom to peel his mask off. Natasha, who silently entered seconds after Tony, pulled out her phone and took a candid photo of the group. It was a rarity for everyone to look this relaxed. 

It wasn’t long before Tony and Natasha were also wearing masks. 

“Here, I’ll help you.” Peter showed Steve and Bucky how to remove the masks without irritating their skin too much and handed them a moisturizer for their faces. When they came back, Natasha was giving Clint a back massage while Tony was painting Thor’s nails with a clear polish from somewhere. 

“Can I draw on your arm?” Peter blurted out. “I mean, don’t feel obligated to say yes. Ned just always lets me draw on his leg. It’s nice but he’s ticklish so he jerks and…”

Bucky silently held out his arm to Peter, who promptly ran off and came back with a box full of colorful sharpies. 

He was surprised when Peter pulled out a damp washcloth and wiped down his arm. He was being so careful and staring at it with so much admiration. Bucky wanted to tell him he didn’t need to act like it was so delicate, that it was pretty much unbreakable and he couldn't feel anything, but the kid’s intense stare deterred him. He felt so warm when the kid looked at his arm, a weapon of mass murder, like it was a beautiful thing. 

Peter picked up a marker and slowly started to draw an intricate pattern around his finger. His head jerked up like he got an idea and he grinned. “You can’t look until it’s finished.”

Bucky protested, but Peter unleashed his wide eyes again and his words fell flat.

“Fine.”

“That includes everyone else too.” Peter motioned for Bucky to move into the corner of the room. Tony and Clint groaned while Thor respectfully looked away. 

Bucky sat completely still as Peter worked. Occasionally he felt Peter gently tug at his arm to adjust the position or heard the squeak of marker on metal, but for the most part, he relaxed and watched the movie. 

“Done yet Spidey?” Tony called out, still looking at the TV screen. He’d been caught trying to peek twice before and Natasha threatened to hurt him if he continued disturbing the peace. 

“One second. I kinda ran out of room though.”

“How?” Clint mumbled, thinking about the size of Bucky’s arm. 

Peter ignored him and declared that he was ready for everyone to see.

Bucky looked down at his arm. Near the shoulder was a drawing of muscular golden retriever wearing a collar that had a miniature version of Steve’s shield hanging from it. There was a bald eagle on its back, but the edges of the wings were red and white like Sam’s. Facing away from the dog was a black cat that somehow had a smirk very similar to Natasha’s when she was pleased. There was the marking of a black widow on the cat’s back. Below the cat was a lizard curled around his arm. It had purple patterns atop dark blue skin. There was a black arrow shaped design down its tail. Across from the lizard was an owl with its wings outstretched. It appeared like it was mid-flight and had a distinctive green tint. Lower still was a whale shark whose spots were shaped like lighting bolts. Close-by was a scarlet octopus whose tentacles were encompassed by a thin line of glowing flames. 

Just below and over his elbow was a peacock with a butterfly and a firefly on either side. The peacock had red and gold ocelli adorning its wings. The butterfly had red wings with black and blue lines criss-crossing out from the body. The firefly had just done a loop which left a trail of golden light resembling a portal. There was a snake wrapped around his upper forearm which was wearing Loki’s helmet. An emperor penguin was sliding on its belly beneath them. It had tiny cat ears and a silver spiked necklace around its lower neck. There was a cheetah with silver spots licking its paws next to the penguin.

Finally, compassing the rest of his forearm was a caribou with intricate metal antlers extending out from his head. 

Bucky was speechless. He twisted his arm around to admire each animal and how they were posed to fit perfectly together. 

Natasha had a soft smile she almost never showed on her face. Steve was praising Peter’s artistry. Tony was looking smug. He even reached out to touch the peacock. Clint was laughing at the lizard and attempting to explain what a whale shark was to Thor at the same time. Bruce pulled his phone out and snapped a picture, presumably to send to Wanda, Pierto, Sam, Strange, and T’Challa. 

It made Bucky’s heart swell, seeing himself portrayed with all the other Avengers. Even if it was in animal form, it was nice to feel included as a part of their team/family. It’d been a long road toward getting forgiveness, then trust to join them in battle, and then friendship, but he would do it all in a heartbeat as long as he wound up in the same spot. 

“Thanks kid.”

As Bucky walked to his room, he was approached by Natasha. “I have a spray that would keep it from smudging for longer, do you want some?”

Bucky nodded silently. In a minute, she was back and helping him coat his arm in a glossy spray.

For the next month, Bucky was sporting a full sleeve tattoo on his left arm. He loved it.


	11. Ice Bucket Challenge (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve Rogers panics after involuntarily participating in the ice bucket challenge.

“There you are,” Pepper leveled her most disappointed stare at Tony. “We have a meeting that you’re already late too and you’re here watching viral videos.” 

“It’s called the Ice Bucket Challenge. People dump a bucket of freezing cold water on themselves and then donate money to the ALS Association. You nominate others at the end of the video who are also supposed to take up the challenge. Several people have nominated the Avengers.” 

Pepper seemed to think for a moment before muttering, “That might actually be a good idea. We still have money in our charity fund to be donated before the end of the fiscal year and it’d be good publicity. I’ll talk to you later Peter.” She smiled and waved at the high schooler as she dragged Tony by his collar. Their breakup had been amicable and both parties were relieved that they could maintain their friendly dynamic. Although, in situations like this, Tony often wondered if it’d be better if she was nervous around him. Then he wouldn’t have to deal with this ’take care of yourself’ by ‘eating’ and ’sleeping’ and ‘doing your work’ business. 

Unexpectedly, Steve Rodgers had stepped up to the job of forcing Tony to maintain a regular, healthy routine. At first, he did it to repay Tony for everything he had provided for the team. He let everyone stay in the tower, fed them, and gave them upgrades to their fighting gear. Tony was also a member of the team and as its leader, Steve felt obligated to keep Ironman in a decent condition. Slowly, obligation turned to choice which morphed into pleasure. He enjoyed the meals with Tony and cuddling with him on the couch. 

“Do you want to go on a date?” His need to know quickly outweighed any doubts he had and Steve braced himself for the worst when he asked Tony out in the lab one evening. He was ecstatic when Tony agreed and the first date went well. 

Tony was in shock when Steve asked him out. He never measured up to Captain America in his father’s eyes so he spent plenty of time hearing about how strong and kind and perfect the man was. He’d tried to hate him when he was first thawed, but it was impossible when everything he’d heard was completely true. He developed his own little crush, but swore he wouldn’t ever reveal it. If Tony was crushing on a straight man out of his league, who had to know? 

“I’d love to go on a date with you.” 

It’d been a couple weeks of flirting around the tower and going on a couple of dates when Tony almost ruined it. 

“This is definitely going to happen. Who should represent the Avengers?” Pepper leaned over Peter’s shoulder, reading the article he’d pulled up on the trend. “Probably Captain America or Iron Man. It’d make sense for one of the most public figures to go.” She focused her attention on Tony, “You are the one providing the money and the one most directly connected to Stark Industries.”

“Nope, I think it should be the Captain. Everyone knows the Avengers are afflicted with us anyway.” Tony quickly cut in. He was still a bit wary of water even though he didn’t have the arc reactor anymore. Plus, a wet Steve would be… To bad he had to be in the waterproof Captain America gear and not just a white T-shirt. 

“No thanks. I’m done with PSA’s.” Steve wasn’t quite as fond of the idea as Pepper was. Everyone knew he wasn’t a fan of the media. He despised the paparazzi and interviews seemed to cause him physical pain. Plus, he still didn’t fully grasp the Internet, let alone trends and viral videos. 

“So you’re going to stand in the way of providing resources to a nonprofit researching for a cure to a horrible disease?” Tony challenged him. 

“Nope. You should still do that. Just choose someone else to star in the video or donate the money without a public show. Ms. Potts could do it. She is the standing CEO.” He was stubborn in his resolve. 

Pepper sighed and left Steve to draw in peace. Tony scrambled after her. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

When other persuasion methods, offering him kisses or dates or new tech, weren’t convincing enough, Tony decided it would be a sneak attack while he was working out or something. The internet loved pranks and he might get to see Steve in a wet shirt yet. He thought that making it a sneak attack meant that Steve wouldn’t have all the normal jitters and anxiety he got when he had to be in front of a camera. Sweet, caring Steve probably wanted to help, but he was just too nervous about the limelight. 

If it went well, he might surprise some others with a bucket of cold water. They would make a compilation. Hopefully, Bruce wouldn’t Hulk out. Actually, that might be cool. Hopefully he does Hulk out. 

Peter and Tony were excited as they filled the bucket with ice and poured super cold water in. They waited for the cubes to mostly disappear, they didn’t want to hurt him, and made sure JARVIS’s security footage got a good angle. They had seen Steve reading some book from Tony's library on the couch. An unsuspecting victim. 

As Tony and Peter discussed what to say and how to silently approach him, Steve nodded off. Waking up so early to run meant that he liked taking afternoon naps when he could. The next thing he knew, he was woken up to a rush of cold water. 

He didn’t like the cold. It brought up bad memories. If he prepared himself, he could handle snow or frigid water or even ice baths after difficult missions. In his unconscious state, he was not prepared. His mind immediately flashed to the HYDRA bomber. He was in the cockpit steering the plane for a nosedive in the water. He could feel the ice and water swirl around him. He was freezing. His body was shutting down. His lungs were filling with water. He was drowning. 

Peter and Tony laughed a little before recognizing that something was off. "He’s not breathing” Peter observed. Steve’s eyes were open, but they were erratically jumping to different spots in the room. He was shivering way more than expected and he was hyperventilating. He was panicking. 

Sam, who heard the chaos, sprinted to Steve’s side. He repeated a mantra reassuring Steve that he was safe and able to breathe. Eventually, Steve calmed down. He choked up bile in the sink and let Sam lead him to his bedroom. 

Peter was a bit terrified. “We hurt him.” He mumbled over and over again. Tony was also in shock. Why hadn’t he even considered that Steve wouldn’t like a challenge that involved ice? The guilt gnawed at his heart and he felt like crying. He felt as terrible as when he realized how much harm his weaponry had caused. 

Peter went to Steve’s room a couple hours later and apologized profusely. Steve forgave him and assured him that it wasn’t his fault. He explained how he wasn’t big on surprises and he especially hated the cold because what had happened to him. It was actually therapeutic to talk about it with someone else and they both parted feeling much better. 

Tony, on the other hand, felt like complete garbage. Obviously, he didn’t blame the kid. Peter didn’t really know Steve and he didn’t know any better. He hadn’t been the one to come up with the idea of a sneak attack. He wouldn’t have even dared to douse one of his idols in cold water if Tony hadn’t insisted it was going to be taken well. Tony needed to come up with some way to apologize for what he did. 

He stayed up all night brainstorming, but nothing seemed good enough. Everything was too impersonal to make up for the emotional pain Tony had inflicted. Ever so often, he would get an idea and frantically work on it, but upon completion realize that it was tacky or stupid. The night turned to day and then back to night. He hadn’t eaten or slept in thirty hours when Steve finally came knocking, more like calling to JARVIS, on the lab door.

Tony hesitantly granted him access and tensely waited for the rage directed his way. 

“I’m sorry.” Steve started in an unimaginably small voice.

Wait? What? Tony’s jaw dropped.

“It was just some water. I overreacted. That wasn’t very heroic, or Captain America like, so I get that you aren’t attracted to me anymore. Once you get to know me I’m kind of….disappointing. Everyone wants the war hero, but I’m only Steve Rodgers. Um, again, sorry you had to see that.” Steve spun on his heels to rush out of the lab. His eyes were red with unshed tears. God, he really was pathetic. 

Tony finally registered what was happening and jolted up to grab Steve’s forearm. “Wait. You don’t have anything to apologize for. I should’ve known better. It’s all my fault for triggering a panic attack. I’m the worst and I understand if you don’t want to continue dating such an inconsiderate person, but I’m not going to break up with you. If you give me a second chance, I’ll make sure to make it up to you, but that’s only if you want it.”

Steve’s eyes filled with doubt, “You don’t have to lie out of pity. I know you’ve been avoiding me. You’d probably get bored with me eventually. I’m not very smart or personable. Hell, I can’t even figure out the tablet you gave me. Maybe it’s for the best.” 

Tony’s heart broke as he realized how many insecurities Steve had been hiding. Steve halfheartedly tried to shake him off, but he just held on tighter. “You aren’t weak. You’re one of the smartest and strongest people I know. I don’t like you because of the attributes you got from the serum or the superhero image you project. I like you because you're the man who was intelligent enough to navigate an entirely new world. The man who was strong and stubborn enough to make his place in a modern world. The man who was kind enough to take care of my emotional mess of a person after my break up. The man who forced me to keep myself healthy. Wait, that’s wrong. I don’t like you just because you take care of me. I like the cute cartoons of the team doing ordinary things. The way you adore Netflix documentaries. Your integrity to follow through with promises. Your loyalty to the side of justice. The way you’re willing to sacrifice everything you are for the greater good. Actually, don’t sacrifice yourself. I’m not great at this…”

Steve stood in silence for a minute. Tony felt like he was going to throw up. He wanted to bolt but willed himself to stay because Steve deserved it. He wasn’t expecting it when Steve pulled him into a passionate kiss. “Thanks” He whispered and motioned toward the door. “If you haven’t eaten since you’ve been down here, do you want to go to dinner?”

Later that week, Thor made an unexpected visit and was thrilled to participate in one of Earth’s tradition. The video of Thor laughing while Natasha, on a step ladder, dumped water on him while Clint got electrocuted by the puddle around his feet had millions of views in hours. They nominated other billionaires and donated a giant sum of money.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Anxiety Attack
> 
> **I know that the ice bucket challenge is pretty old, but I just randomly had this idea. Also, just because it isn’t a trend anymore doesn’t mean you can’t donate to help find a cure for ALS (or to any other charity working for a good cause)! Two of my go-to charities are 350.org and the Environmental Defense Fund, if you guys have any that you’re passionate about let me know! I love looking at the positive impacts people can make!**


	12. Turn it Off (Stucky)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Steve aren’t very tech savvy.

“How’s everyone?” Steve panted as started walking toward a clearing in the debris. They’d just finished defeating a villain who was trying to plant mind control bombs all over New York City. “Weird alien shit.” Steve mumbled beneath his breath. Why couldn’t they just have normal human adversaries anymore?

“Hawkeye here. I’m currently being lifted to the ground by Iron Man. We’re both doing fine.”

“Yep, super duper.” Tony groaned in the background. 

“Cuts and bruises.” Clint clarified at Tony’s outburst, “But nothing too bad.” 

“Black Widow and Thor are also fine. We’re picking up some loose ends on the eastern boundary. Just doing a final sweep for any lingering ‘gifts’.” Natasha’s voice came soon after.

“Hi Captain America! I’m alright too! Oh, it’s Spiderman by the way!” Steve grinned a bit at Peter’s enthusiastic response.

“I’m ready for everyone in the jet to receive medical attention.” Bruce added.

“This is the Falcon, I’m in the air and I’ve got eyes on Bucky. My wings are a bit banged up, but the solider looks unscathed.” 

“I second that.” Bucky’s deep voice filled the line.

Steve let out a breath of relief he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Even though Bucky was more than capable of handling himself on the battlefield, Steve couldn’t help but worry. 

“And you Captain?” Thor spoke up.

“All good here. Head to medical once you're finished up.” 

There was a chorus of groans and “but I’m fine”s as the Avengers reverted into a group of stubborn children who didn’t like the doctor. 

“Come on guys, it’s Bruce. If you don’t get seen on the jet, I’ll turn you into the SHIELD medical facility.”

“Yes, sir” Tony teased. Steve could practically see him saluting with a smirk on his face. He smiled and shook his head, still amazed at how close all of them had gotten. They were practically a family at this point. 

“What’s that stupid grin for?” Bucky, from around the corner yelled out to Steve. He reached up and muted his earpiece so the team couldn’t hear him speaking. 

Steve mimicked the action. “Just happy that everyone’s getting back safely. Speaking of which, you’re sure you’re unharmed?”

Bucky spun around with his hands up for Steve to examine. He made a twirl motion to gesture that Steve should do the same. 

“I was the world’s most deadly assassin. I think you have a little more faith in my fighting abilities, doll.” 

“I know sweetheart, but I can’t help it. I’m Captain America and I know you still worry.” 

“That’s because you do stupid things.”

“Nope, you have all the stupid." Steve hummed. “Speaking of which, I think I need to check for injuries more throughly. I think you might be hiding something under all those clothes.” 

“I’ve got something under my uniform for you, but it isn’t an injury.” Bucky’s husky voice caused Steve to shiver. 

“Is that so? You’re going to have to show me once we get home.”

“Mmm” Bucky leaned over and kissed Steve. The adrenaline coursing through his veins made Steve almost frantic. He squeezed Bucky’s ass and deepened the kiss. Bucky pulled back with a small moan. 

“This is my stop. My boyfriend’s a real grump about medical.” Bucky wagged his fingers teasingly and turned to climb the stairs to medical. 

“Sounds like a smart person.” Steve laughed. “See you in a bit.” He regained his composure and rushed to the main compartment of the jet. 

It was a little odd that no one had been on the comms since he did the check up. Usually there were jokes and complaints galore after a fight. Clint begging for food, Natasha threatening to fly back alone if everyone didn’t hurry up, Tony laughing at screen grabs from the playback of the battle, Thor promising a large feast, and Bruce begging someone in medical to stop squirming. 

Steve instantly became concerned when he saw the whole team, minus Bucky and Bruce, glaring in silence at him as he arrived. He immediately assumed his battle stance.

“Do the old men need another lesson in technology?” Tony said condescendingly.

“What?” Steve was confused. Had he missed something? Were they calling for him because something went wrong? Was everyone okay? He scanned his teammates, imagining worse case scenarios, but no one seemed hurt. “Is Bruce hurt? Was there another attack someone else?” 

“Everything is fine.” Natasha assured him. She had a smug grin on her face. “More than fine, Clint owes me $50.” She held her hand out toward him as he fished his wallet out of his backpack. 

Steve rose an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“You left your communicator on the whole time dipshit.” Tony grabbed the technology lodged in his ear. “This one is off, this is to mute other people, and this is to mute yourself. It’s only three buttons.” 

“Oh. OH.” Steve mouth became a perfect circle as he realized what his team was talking about. 

“Wish I could unhear…” Sam was grumbling under his breath although it now made sense while Steve spent more time with Bucky than him.

“Congratulations!” Thor wrapped Steve in a crushing hug. “Two warriors coming together is most joyous news. We must have a feast!” Tony rolled his eyes. 

“How long have you been dating?” Peter asked enthusiastically.

Steve opened his mouth to answer but suddenly he felt arms around his waist and a head on his shoulder. “Nearly eighty five years.” He heard his boyfriend answer from beside him. 

“I don’t know if we can exactly count seventy or eighty of those…” Steve’s voice trailed off as Bucky nuzzled into his neck. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be in medical?”

“M’ done. All good.” 

“Ew, can we just pretend we still don’t know you’re dating so you can go back to hiding?” Clint whined as Tony stated “No flirting on my ship. You also need a technology lesson terminator.” 

“Why were you hiding?” Natasha sat down and started organizing her weapons. 

Steve shrugged, “Habit, I guess.” 

“I deserve pizza for putting up with this. Tony?” Clint begged “I don’t have any money. Tasha took it all…”


	13. Pledge of Allegiance (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve only remembers the old version of the Pledge of Allegiance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn’t guess, I’m an American. 
> 
> The Pledge of Allegiance is a short expression that every American child memorizes and recites daily at school. It is also used in almost any event where an American flag is brought out. I know it’s been confusing to exchange students that have been around so hopefully that’s a bit helpful!
> 
> Memorial Day is a holiday honoring soliders who lost their lives fighting for our country. It’s somewhat of a large thing, but unless you are in or know someone in the military, most people don’t really do anything about it.

Steve put on his best face for the media and walked up to the podium. This wasn’t a planned PR event or the Avengers making a statement, this was a complete surprise to him. It didn’t matter much, all they wanted from him was to say the Pledge of Allegiance before their speech on Memorial Day, and he could do that. 

It was an honor to be chosen, but he couldn’t help but wonder if some other, more deserving service member had been scheduled. It wasn’t his fault Doom had appeared in the middle of the event and he’d had to leave the WW2 ceremony he was at to come and fight at this one. Luckily, it was a very easy fight and no one was hurt. 

“Here is Captain America, leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.” 

Steve leaned over to the microphone and began speaking:

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

The speaker announced that everyone may be seated and dismissed Steve. He decided to go back to the service he had originally been at. Even though everyone else was physically much older than himself, he had more in common with them. 

He couldn’t help but notice some strange glances on his way out. 

After the ceremony, he came home, changed, and showered. Downstairs, Tony and Natasha were playing chess while Clint made dinner. Peter was working on a science project with Bruce’s help.

“How’re you feeling?” Tony looked up at him as he entered the room. “Better” He slunk down in the seat next to his boyfriend and cuddled up to his side. “It doesn’t seem so fresh anymore.” That was true. With Tony, Steve had finally begun to accept the future and all of its quirks. He got over the people in his past live, comforted by the fact that many of them lived long, happy lives. Tony nodded and lovingly rubbed his arm. 

Then Steve reached for the TV remote. He usually put the news on as a sort of background noise when they were in the living room. 

Tony snatched it away. “The TV’s broken right now. I’m planning on fixing it after this match.”

“Okay?” Steve was a bit confused at Tony’s strong reaction but settled back in. “That’s alright. You don’t need to rush.” He quickly found himself dozing off to the humming of Tony’s arc reactor and the swell of his chest as he breathed. 

“Wake up Cap! Meal time!” Steve blinked his eyes open to the sound of Clint yelling from the kitchen. Everyone else was already moving to sit around the communal table so he got up and sat between Tony and Bruce. 

Tony quickly shut off his tablet as Steve looked his way. When Steve raised an eyebrow, Tony just shrugged and blurted something about table manners.

They had a nice dinner conversation and played a board game together. When Steve and Tony retired to their bedroom. Steve saw that their TV missing.

“I figured I should check all the TVs after the living room one broke. Oh, and your phone is also in the lab being worked on. I figured you wouldn’t mind, right? I’m going to take a shower.” 

Steve was suspicious now, but he knew Tony wouldn’t hurt him. He hoped it wasn’t some giant over-the-top surprise. Tony enjoyed giving extravagant gifts and Steve knew it was his way of showing love, but sometimes they were just too much. He reached in his pocket for a paper from earlier and realized he must have left it in the living room.

Steve crept downstairs to avoid disturbing the others. At the bottom, he noticed a soft glow in the hallway coming from the room. I thought the TV was broken? He silently walked over and put his face just barely around the corner. Natasha and Clint had a news channel up. 

“Captain America: An Atheist?” 

With his enhanced senses, he could see the news ticker and hear the host discussing whether or not Captain America believed in God. One of the men at the table was arguing that he obviously didn’t because he was openly gay and unrepentant about it. The man next to him cut in with an argument that the Bible never actually condemned homosexuality and that being religious and being gay were not mutually exclusive. The woman across from him interjected.

“Why didn’t he say the words ‘under God’ than?” 

“Maybe he doesn’t want to mix religion and politics.” 

“Well, maybe he isn’t religious at all. Does he even go to church?” 

Finally, Steve made his presence known as he stepped behind the couch. His mouth was open. He was speechless.

“Oh, Steve...” Clint said dumbly at he stared up at the blonde. 

“The TV isn’t broken anymore.” Natasha added. “Don’t take it seriously. The media are vultures. Your life is private. You can make whatever decisions you want.”

“Yeah. But why would they even? I’m Catholic.”

“You are?” Natasha smacked Clint’s arm. “How are you even a spy? Haven’t you seen his Bible?” 

“I am. I don’t go to church much anymore. It wasn’t the same as I remembered it. When I was younger, me and ma went every Sunday. The people were so nice. They always gave me extra clothes and sometimes invited us over for a quick meal.” Steve grew nostalgic. “But these new churches weren’t as much of a community. Well, maybe they were, but they all saw me as Captain America and eventually started doing ridiculous things to get me to stay at their church because they thought it would pull others to do the same.”

Natasha nodded thoughtfully. She remembered when he came home, distraught over his search for the right church. She, albeit not a religious person, pointed out that personal worship was a thing that he should look into. He found that he much preferred a personal connection with God rather than being weirdly stared at throughout mass. 

“So why do they think I don’t believe in God?” 

“You didn’t say ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance during the memorial ceremony. They’re blowing this up way too much.” Clint supplied. “It’s just been this whole thing recently. Like should kids have to say ‘under God’ when they recite the Pledge even if they’re in a public school? Does that God refer specifically to the Christian God or can it be taken as any higher power you want to worship to? Etcetera. Etcetera.” 

“There isn’t an ‘under God’ in it.” Steve’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “I’ve said it at least half a million times from my younger days. It was definitely correct.” 

Natasha pulled out a smart phone and looked up the American Pledge of Allegiance, she hadn’t grown up with it, but she had learned it to blend with crowds when necessary and she was sure it referenced God. “See it...oh”

“What?”

“Apparently, that part wasn’t added until 1954. So Steve wouldn’t have ever said the new version.”

Clint nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Why’d they add it?” Steve was now confused about something else. He’d thought the government got less and less tangled with religion as time passed.

“Anti-communist rhetoric. You learned about the Red Scare and the Cold War, right?” 

Steve scrunched up his face. “Yep.” He thought the whole thing was stupid. 

“Yeah, the communists were supposably ‘godless’ so they made sure to become extra religious here to prove they weren’t communist.” 

“And they kept it in?” 

“Mmhm. Are you okay?” 

Steve gave a slight nod. He was a little frustrated though. He wasn’t trying to make a stand or bash anyone’s belief in God. Why would he choose a memorial ceremony for his fallen brethren to do that anyway? That’s disrespectful and unlike him. When he wants to make a stand, he always does it during post-fight interviews or press conferences. 

He made his way back to his room in a trance. 

“Hey, honey-“ Tony spun around with a towel on his hips “-Oh. You found out didn’t you?” 

“Why did you try to hide it?”

Tony looked a little guilty. “It’s already a tough day for you. I didn’t want to stress you out further.”

“I’m not mad at you.” Steve gave Tony a reassuring peck on the lips. “I’m mad at those damn reporters. Can I get an interview to clear all this up? Natasha helped me figure out what happened.”

“Of course. I’ll have Pepper schedule you one.”

“You’re the best.” 

Steve stepped down onto the sidewalk from the car. Shockingly, there were people screaming at him. It wasn’t as bad as when he’d come out with Tony, but there were still a decent amount of trespassers.

“Captain America can’t be a damn heathen.”

“You don’t embody any true American ideals. You should be ashamed of yourself.” 

“You’ve ruined everything.”

“You’re a terrible role model.”

The shouting went on and on. He tried to ignore it, but it was starting to get to him. He wasn’t supposed to be a superhero. He was just lucky enough to get the serum. He was just Steve Rogers. Maybe Steve Rogers wasn’t good enough.

Thankfully, Tony knew what to do. As soon as he saw his boyfriend’s insecure face, he showered him in loving and uplifting words. He surrounded him with compliments that had nothing to do with Captain America or the serum.

Eventually, Steve was ready to interview. Everything went smoothly. After the reporter realized this was a mundane mistake, he wasn’t thirsting for juicy questions and wrapped it up quickly.

“Thank you.” Steve whispered to Tony after exiting the lime light.” He was so grateful for all the times he’d been pulled out of jams like these by the most amazing man he’d ever known. 

“You’re welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the longer break before this fic - I enjoyed my Labor Day Weekend and I Hope most of you got a chance to as well. Also, as school is starting up again and I’m a busy college student, my works probably won’t be updated as often or they might be shorter. I’ll do my best though!


	14. Not a Virgin (Sort of Romanogers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teasing Captain America about being a virgin does not go as planned for Tony and Clint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Mentions Sexual Content 
> 
> **Also, a person’s sex life can be a very personal thing, and there can be a lot of reasons why they are or aren’t having sex. Don’t tease or pressure people about their choices, and definitely don’t slut shame or prude shame.

“Eggs?” Steve tilted the skillet toward Natasha, who nodded over her cup of tea. He scooped a sizable amount onto her plate before dumping the rest onto his plate. They ate in comfortable silence, both catching up on the news as usual. 

Tony stumbled in a bit later. “Mmgh”

Steve handed him a cup of coffee. “Did you even sleep last night?” 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Tony winked. 

“We know you didn’t bring anyone home last night. You were just up late in the lab Stark.” Clint called out as he entered the kitchen. “Do I smell eggs?” He greedily snagged a bite from Steve’s plate.

“Could’ve if I wanted to. It’s common knowledge that I know how to please a woman.” Tony gives a confident grin and chugs the rest of his coffee. 

Steve looks away. 

“Aw, did I offend the good Captain? It’s the 21st century buddy, you’re going to have to get used to a bit of-” 

“-Not offended, its just impolite.” Steve cut in, fixedly eating his eggs. 

“I’m sure Natasha would be able to set you up if you’re looking to get some action man.” Clint offered.

“Get rid of that pesky virginity.” Tony added, nodding his head thoughtfully. “I think it’s a great idea. 

Steve sighed and rose to clean his dish. He grabbed Natasha’s on the way. “I’m not a virgin.” He muttered, but no one was paying attention. 

Natasha smirked at him knowingly and rolled her eyes when Clint started speaking again. “What’s your type? There are so many female SHIELD agents. Fancy any of them?” 

“I’m doing fine. Thanks for the concern.” Steve shrugged them off and made to leave the room. He needed to get to working out. Tony and Clint constantly made these jokes. They didn’t really bug him anyway, it was just starting to get tedious. He wasn’t the Boy Scout the media had made him into. 

Tony, probably from the sleep deprivation, stumbled right as Steve spun around and spilled his fresh cup of coffee all over Steve’s shirt. 

“Ah” Steve yelped as Tony immediately began to apologize and helped Steve pull his shirt off and over his head. As soon as he was free of the sopping clothing, he reached for a dishcloth to wipe the mess on the floor. When he stood back up, he realized no one was speaking. 

“I’m really fine.” He assured them. “Shirt’s a goner though.” 

Natasha was grinning manically. Clint and Tony seemed shocked. 

“Um, it wasn’t that hot. Guys, what’s wrong?” 

“Steve, your back...” Tony gasped. 

Steve tried and failed to look at his own back. What was he talking about? And ‘Steve’ instead of some nickname, he must really be surprised. 

Steve walked over to a nearby mirror on the wall and realized what everyone was looking at. “Damn.” 

There were angry red scratch marks across his back. 

“Sorry, I though the serum had taken care of that already.” Steve pointedly turned so his back was facing away from the gaping crowd, well except for Natasha who was throughly amused. “Usually they’re gone overnight.”

“Usually” Clint echo’d 

“You’re not a virgin?” Tony finally spat out. 

“Never said I was.”

“With who?”

“Now that’s impolite.” Steve made to leave.

“Wait? You can’t just leave us. What do you mean impolite? If you’re dating someone, I think your team slash closest friends should know.”

“You, of all people, know you don’t need to be dating someone to have sex.” 

“Captain America has one night stands?” Clint finally shook off the initial surprise and joined the conversation.

“They aren’t really ‘one night stands’”

“We prefer the term fuck buddies” Natasha couldn't resist.

“No we don’t” 

“Why not?”

“At least call it the other thing.”

“Friends with benefits?”

“Yeah, that.” 

“I feel so betrayed. You didn’t tell me?” Clint put a hand over his chest and put on a fake hurt expression. 

Tony just kept looking between Steve and Natasha “What? How? Why?”

Steve just glanced at Natasha and casually said, “Nat and I have a lot of long missions together. Good stress relief. I really need to go though.” He started stepping toward the doorway. 

“Me too.” Natasha smacked Steve on the butt on her way out and winked at Clint. 

The two men could only watch with wide eyes as they left the room. 

“Damn Rogers…”


	15. Why Bed Bath & Beyond? (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve likes Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Tony can’t figure out why.

Tony sighed dramatically as they rounded the corner. “We have toothbrushes. You know that right? And they’re much better than these.” Tony picked up the plastic packaging like it was garbage. “Ours are electric and everything. They even have special modifications that I added so they’re molded specifically to our mouths.”

“I know.” Steve continued picking up different toothbrushes and intently studying their features. “I just like to look.” 

“If you’re this bored at the tower, you could just ask me to build something for you. I could add waterslides to the pool or more training sequences to the gym. I could make an escape room that…” Tony’s voice trailed off as he got lost in thoughts about modifications in the tower. He hardly noticed Steve move over toward the bedding section. 

“Do we have to go through this again? The silk sheets we have are-”

Steve cut him off with a wave of his hand. “I know.” 

“Yeah, you just like to look.” Tony settled into a lawn chair nearby. “You know, things are different in the modern world, but there are much cooler things I could show you. You don’t have to spend your Saturday in a Bed Bath & Beyond.”

Steve just shrugged. This always happened. Once every couple weeks, Steve would announce his plans to go to some mundane spot and invite his boyfriend along. Tony would gripe about it, but inevitably join because he really loved spending time with Steve. He’d be good for the first hour, then taper off into boredom. He’d complain and make suggestions for better date spots. Steve would agree to go another day. It was basically a routine now. Tony didn't understand why. In the past two months he’d been dragged to Ikea, Sears, Home Depot, and Target. Steve rarely bought anything so he couldn’t help but question why he kept going to these places? Was Steve looking for something specific? Did he know he could order pretty much anything online? 

“Steve, remember amazon? It’s that site online where you can…” 

Two weeks later, Tony was slumped over his lab bench. He’d just finished his latest improvement on Sam’s wing pack. He’d been up for more than twenty four hours, but the thrill of finishing a project pushed one last surge of energy through him. 

“JARVIS, where’s Steve?” Tony spoke quickly, wanting to go on a date to celebrate. Sam’s latest problems with the wings had been tough. Tony struggled to think of a repair for weeks until an idea came to him in the shower. He’d been half-naked when he rushed down to his workspace. Thankfully, Steve provided clothes, food, and water during his several day long engineering binge. 

“Mr. Rogers has been out of the tower since 11am this morning.”

Tony checked his watch. It was now five. Where was Steve? He didn’t mention anything about work or other plans today.

“Did he mention where he was going?” 

“He and Mr. Barnes left in jogging attire. He said he would be making a few stops and to inform you not you worry. ‘Hey Tony, I’m going out today. I’ll be back before six. I left some sandwiches in the fridge. Please eat. I love you.’” JARVIS played back Steve’s request. 

“Okay.” Tony went upstairs and showered off all the grease. He sat down on the bed for a quick nap before bed. Several hours later, he woke up to a dip in the bed and a warm body laying against him.

“Steve?” His voice was garbled with sleepiness.

“Go back to sleep Tony.” Steve kissed his forehead. “JARVIS told me you finished your project. Good job. Now you should get some rest.” Steve whispered in his ear and Tony contentedly drifted back to sleep. 

He woke up to a stream of bright light in his eyes. “JARVIS, shut the blinds.” He groaned “What time is it?” 

“It is currently 11:47.”

Tony sat up and stretched his arms. He felt much more relaxed and well rested. He wandered down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee and walked in just in time to hear a cheer. He glanced over at the living room. All the furniture had been moved to the side. Steve was in the middle of the room with Natasha on his shoulders. Peter was sitting criss-cross on the wall. Bucky was webbed to the ceiling. Sam was backed into the corner and slowly squatting up and down. They all had their mouths wide open. Tony rubbed his eyes and pinched his wrist. Whatever Steve was doing yesterday was completely forgotten. 

“Thirty seconds starts now.” Bruce announced checking his watch.

Clint burst from around the corner, looked around the room, and started firing grapes at the rest of the team with a slingshot. He hit each of them squarely in the middle of their mouths. “Clint - 3, Avengers - 0” He held both arms up in a victory pose and spun in a circle.

“Fine, just let me down.” Bucky tried to sound annoyed, but it was obvious he was having fun. Steve walked over to where his friend was stuck and let Natasha stand on his shoulders. She pulled a knife seemingly out of thin air and cut him most of the way out. He was able to jump to the floor. 

“Damn spies” Tony grumbled when Bucky’s leap didn’t make any noise. He could never understand how they did that. “Hey, Steve can you come with me to…”

Life went on. There were two more instances where Steve disappeared, but they were easily forgotten soon after the fact. Tony never got the chance to ask. He trusted Steve so he wasn’t concerned. The second time, Tony was about to ask, but Steve had abruptly asked if he was alright with how much time he spent with Bucky.

“…Buck’s my best friend. He’s pretty much my brother, but I just wanted to make sure that you know how much I love you and that I never want anyone else. If you ever feel lonely, please tell me so I can make it better…”

Tony quickly reassured him that he loved that Steve spent so much time with his long lost friend. He admitted that he always felt bad about disappearing to the lab for long times and liked that Steve had people to hang out with like Sam and Bucky. Steve had shown his love in the form of some mind-blowing sex that night. Again, the outings were forgotten.

That was, until the fourth time. It’d been a few months since the first time, but Tony was noticing a pattern. “Where’s Steve?” He asked Natasha as he opened the fridge, looking for a snack.

“Out with Bucky. I think they said they’d be at Macy’s.” 

“Macy’s?” 

Natasha nodded.

“Why?” 

“I don’t think they need anything. Steve just wanted to visit.”

“He does that.” Tony agreed. “I don’t understand it though. He usually asks me though. Is that what he’s been doing all this time?”

“Probably. Didn’t you complain about it nonstop though? I think Bucky likes it too so win-win right? I thought it was kinda cute the first few times I went with him, but I can see how that would get old fast.”

“He went with you?” Tony was a little shocked. He also wasn’t sure how he felt about Steve not inviting him to go with anymore. He understood. He’d never exactly been enthusiastic about the outings and he made that perfectly clear, but it would still be nice to be considered.

“Don’t sound surprised. You know I was the first person he really hung out with after coming out of the ice. Plus, that was right after the ice so he went pretty often.” 

“What does the ice have to do with it?”

Natasha looked at him with her eyebrow raised. “He didn’t tell you why he went to all those places?”

“I don’t know. I invited myself on the first trip because I thought he was just going to pick up something really quick. When we stayed for a while, I thought he was just fascinated by modern conveniences so I offered to show him more interesting modern inventions. I’m confused. He doesn’t blink an eye at my iron suit but comforters are fascinating?” 

“They aren’t fascinating.” 

“I know that, but-“

“Steve doesn’t think of them that way.”

“What?”

“They ground him. The first time I went with him, he told me that it was nice to know that the world hadn’t changed. There are improvements and alterations, but the basic principles stay the same. People still need a bed even if it’s bigger and fluffier and covered in a nicer bedspread than he could’ve ever imagined.” 

Tony was speechless.

“After the alien attacks and the killer robots, Steve needed to know that there was some piece of the world that he could relate to. He needed to know that even as a product of an old world, he could fit in a modern one. So when he gets overwhelmed by the newness of the world, he goes to places that remind him the world isn’t so different and scary.” 

“And I teased him about it…” Tony felt a swell of guilt.

Natasha stared into his eyes. “He doesn’t mind it. In fact, I think he liked some of the teasing. It’s another way of providing normalcy. It’s better if you guys are ribbing each other and cracking jokes than standing in somber silence. If you acted like you pitied him or faked enthusiasm you didn’t feel, he would’ve been uncomfortable taking you because your mood would make him feel the need to apologize or awkwardly make it better.” 

And Tony believed her. She could read anyone like an open book. 

“Why’d he stop taking me then?” 

“Really?”

“Yeah, if he enjoyed it, why would he stop taking me?” 

“Bucky is his best friend and he struggles with some of the same issues that Steve does regarding the modern world. Those problems are accompanied by a million other problems that came from the Winter Solider. Steve’s introducing him to one of his coping mechanism. You didn’t want to go, taking Bucky helps with his anxiety and his estrangement issues, spending time together helps them reconnect.” Natasha had three fingers up. “Seems like a win-win-win situation for Steve. You get to spend your time in the lab and not bothered by him while he helps and bonds with his friend.” 

“Okay.” Tony was still a little disappointed that he hadn’t whole heartedly supported Steve’s weird coping, but he knew there was no way he could’ve known. Natasha’s talk made him feel much better. 

“Steve?” Tony murmured in his boyfriends ear as he snuggled closer. “I’m so grateful that you came into my life.” Steve made a sleepy noise of acknowledgement and understanding. “You’ve made every part of my life better and I can’t imagine life without you. I love you.” Steve wrapped his arms tighter around Tony and mumbled a broken attempt at “I love you too.” Tony grinned and curled his head onto Steve’s chest. “Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been traveling before school starts so that’s my excuse for the slow updates. Too bad I get carsick when I read or write in the car or I’d probably have been able to finish them sooner. Blame my inner ear if you need to blame something.


	16. Sex Pollen - Stuckony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex pollen - what more can I say?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Smut
> 
> *Clearly, I’m completely original all the time. [insert sarcastic tone here

“So it’s basically a super strong aphrodisiac?” Tony snapped at his AI.

“That is correct sir. You and Mr. Rogers have come into contact with a foreign substance which makes the victim feel a strong urge to perform the act of intercourse. It is absorbed through the skin. The compound will be released and deactivated in sexual fluid.”

“Got it J” Tony moaned. He jerked back at the sound of his voice. _When did he started touching himself again? _The water from the emergency shower was already ice cold but his raging erection still stood at attention. He’d already gone for two rounds and there were still no signs of letting up.

This is bad.

Tony and Steve had been in a strange room full of vials just an hour ago. It’d been in the alien spaceship that had crashed on the border of Manhattan.

“This is a bad idea. We should go.” Steve tried to back out of the room. “We don’t know what any of this is.”

“I’m not going to eat any of it. I just want to collect some for testing. C’mon, it’ll be fine. Don’t worry so much.” The natural scientist in Tony wouldn’t allow him to just leave behind all these carefully catalogued jars. So what if he couldn’t read the script? One of these probably cured cancer or something. Yeah, he definitely needed to check all of them.

Steve looked hesitant.

“All their weapons were in the other room right? This looks like a medical area. I don’t think they’d keep dangerous stuff with their first aid supplies. It might be valuable medicine.”

“Maybe for an alien.” Steve retorted, but he seemed less suspicious than before. He stood at attention in the doorway.

“See look this one-Whoops” Tony gripped the glass to hard and it shattered, sensing powder everywhere. The battle must’ve weakened it and Tony was still in the Iron Man suit. He should’ve been more gentle.

He got a bit of the red powder on his face because his faceplate was up. Steve, on the other hand, was covered with the stuff.

Tony reacted immediately. He scooped Steve up and flew back to the tower, shaking off the powder as he went. They were then sent to high powered emergency showers.

“Have you shared that information with Steve?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Okay.” Tony sat back for a second. The breaks between his lusty urges were becoming longer. He sat down and panted for a bit. His mind wandered back to the alien lab. _Jeez, Steve was really covered with the stuff wasn’t he? How was he handling that?_ Tony was barely keeping it together with the minimal amount he got. He knew, from his father’s notes, that Steve already had a very active libido since the serum. _Did his metabolism make the aphrodisiac disappear faster or was it enhanced by the serum? _

_Poor Steve._ He’d wanted to leave everything alone and he ended up getting the brunt of the consequences for Tony’s stupid mistake.

Tony wanted to go and see how Steve was doing. He felt like he at least owed it to the man. _Maybe he could offer up some kind of sex toy or something?_

When he was partially down the hallway, he was suddenly filled with. “Jesus Christ.” He groaned as he made his way to a bathroom. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead just as he tensed up and came into the toilet. He tried to fix himself before leaving to complete the rest of the trip.

“Mmm. Fuck.” Tony heard low moaning as he approached Steve’s door. The door wasn’t even entirely closed, so the room wasn’t soundproof like usual. Tony could imagine Steve rushing in, horny as hell, and forgetting to close the door in his haste.

“Oh god, yes!” He heard Steve cry out.

“Are you all good?” There was a moment of clarity and Steve’s voice was serious. Then a moment of silence.

_Is he talking to himself?_ Tony became worried. _What if the powder messed with his brain? _He did get a lot and JARVIS didn’t have extensive information on the alien substance.

Then there were more moans. He heard a whine and the sound of the bed rocking.

_He’s really going at it. _

The sounds of the moans were really starting to get to him. His erection was back at full mast. “Uh.” Tony’s lower stomach felt like it was on fire. He decided to just go for it. He couldn’t think all that straight, but he remembered a few moments ago he thought it was a good idea. _Maybe Steve would fuck him?_ That was definitely a good idea. _Was that the idea his logical brain came up with? Probably._ It felt right.

He burst through the door. “Steve, I...” His voice was breathy and utterly wrecked. He stopped talking when he saw feet over Steve’s shoulders.

Steve didn’t stop. He continued grinding his hips into whoever was laying on the bed. “Fuck. I love you so much.” Steve groaned. The other person mumbled something incoherent in response. The room was filled with grunts and creaking. “Ah.” Steve tensed and shuddered. Tony was distracted by the flex of his butt.

“Did you want something?” The other person tilted to peek out from around Steve’s back. His voice was rough, but he was clearly less inhibited than Steve.

“Bucky?!” Tony shrieked as he gaze was pulled away from the blonde’s behind.

“Um. Yeah?”

There was a cracking sound and Steve released his grip on the headboard. There was a deep imprint in the top of it and cracks spread out from the center. _Fuck, that’s so hot._

Steve kisses Bucky and pulled out. He was still mostly hard though. He turned around. “Tony?”

Steve’s eyes were lidded and his lips were red and swollen. Tony must’ve been staring for too long because

“Tony? What are you doing here?”

That snapped him out of it. “I’m. I thought. You know that alien stuff is making you horny?”

“Figured that out myself.” Steve laughed. “The information from JARVIS was helpful though.” His sentence ended in a moan.

“Back?” Bucky asked and Steve nodded. “You don’t have to-uh, please.” His train of thought was cut off by Bucky wrapping his hand around his cock and starting to stroke.

“Wait, did you just offer to help?” Tony was curious now. He still had a couple minute before another wave hit him. “How did that work?” Tony couldn’t imagine Steve trying to convince a teammate to have sex with him because he was super horny even if that teammate was his best friend. Steve seemed like the type to be too worried about danger or consent issues or being impolite, or too stuck in his ways of dealing with his issues by himself.

“Mmhm,” Bucky was still out of it, his hair was tousled and his body was shiny with sweat. “Of course I’m gonna help my best guy.” He sped up his hand as Steve got close. “I’d never give up the chance to make him come undone. Isn’t that right Stevie? You love my hand. My touch. Do you want me to go faster?”

“Please” Steve whined hips thrusting into Bucky’s hands.

“You’ve done this before?” Tony was losing it now. He wanted to think about new information logically, but his imagination was filled with scenes of the two gorgeous super soliders having sex. _After a mission when they were both full of adrenaline. Pushed against the wall of the Quinjet. Struggling to remain quiet. Steve-_

“Yeah we’ve been dating for the better part of a century. Are you going to join or keep satisfying yourself over there in the corner?” Bucky’s question pulled him from his trance and he realized that once again, he was masturbating.

_Yes. God yes_. His brain screamed at him to accept the offer. Actually, maybe that wasn’t his brain, but something was screaming at him. But he couldn’t do that, could he? He wasn’t a relationship wrecker. They were just offering because he was ‘sick’ right?

“That okay with you?” Bucky asked Steve who had just cum all over his stomach. He stared into Bucky’s eyes and nodded, slowly and deliberately. Bucky turned back to Tony, “You can finish up before you give an answer.”

Tony’s mind cleared as his orgasm hit its peek. “I’m definitely coming in.” He stood up and made his way to the bed, legs more weak and wobbly than he’d care to admit.

“And that’s how we started dating Tony.” Bucky said nonchalantly.

“Don’t ever tell me that story again.” Clint glared at him. “I wish Tony made these hearing aids with a quick release.”

“But then you wouldn’t be able to hear as well. I want my teammates to have the best.” Tony stuck his bottom lip out and pinched Bucky’s butt as he reached over him toward the coffee pot. Bucky grinned.

“This is sickening.” Clint acted as angry as he could. He spun around to make his exit when he bumped right into a shirtless, sweaty Steve Rogers clad in nothing but running shorts.

Tony wolf whistled. “I think I know what I want for breakfast now.”

Steve blushed. Clint made gagged noises and sprinted out of the kitchen. How the hell were they still like this after two years of dating?


	17. Floor (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve sleeps on the floor. Tony doesn’t know.

“That was fantastic.” Tony panted as he slumped back onto a stack of pillows. 

“Really?” Steve looked absolutely wrecked in the best way, but Tony noticed the flash of uncertainty in his eyes. They’d been dating for almost two months, and Steve had admitted that he was worried about pleasing Tony because he was inexperienced in bed. 

“It was perfect.” Tony kissed Steve gently and pulled him down with him. Tony quickly fell asleep and Steve marveled at his peaceful sleeping face. 

The next morning, Tony woke up to an empty bed. He was a bit disappointed. Yeah, he knew Steve didn’t need as much sleep as a regular human, and he was in the habit of waking up at an ungodly early hour in the morning, but it’d still be nice to wake up to a warm body, especially since that body belonged to Steve. He was so head over heels for the man, he could barely believe it. When Steve smiled, he could just…

“Good Morning!” Tony was upset at being interrupted from his daydreaming, but that was quickly replaced with overwhelming happiness when he saw that his daydreams had manifested into the real thing. It was even better than the daydream because real Steve handed him a cup of coffee as he cuddled up next to him. He smelled fresh and showered. Tony adored it. 

“I love you.”

“Are you talking to me?’ Steve teased him.

“Who else would I be talking to?”

“Well, you’re looking at that coffee like you’re about to propose, but, for the record, I love you too.” Steve pecked him on the lips. 

And that’s how things went. They were affectionate and flirty almost all the time. Their teammates acted disgusted, but they were all secretly happy to see the couple getting along so well. Unexpectedly, they didn’t fight very much. They understood each others ‘work' situations and were pretty good at reading each other. Steve knew how to help Tony through his panic attacks and Tony helped Steve relax and adjust to modern life. Things were going well. 

“What the hell?” Tony yelped as he stubbed his toe on something large on the floor of his bedroom. He’d just come back from a mission almost half a day earlier than expected which meant he’d arrived in New York in the middle of the night. He’d planned on slipping into his room and into bed with Steve. He’d FaceTime’d with Steve a few hours ago so he knew Steve would be sleeping deeply: they were always able to sleep better after talking to each other. 

Well, that was the plan. 

Suddenly the lump sprung into the air. The rush of air was almost audible with how fast it moved.

“Tony?”

Tony didn’t have super sight so he couldn’t see the figure, but he damn well recognized that voice. “Steve? J, turn on the lights to the lowest setting.” 

The room brightened a bit and sure enough, his boyfriend was standing there in front of him. His hair was tousled with sleep and his arms were held out in a defensive position. His lids were still a bit heavy with sleep. Tony smiled inwardly at the sight. He didn’t have many chances to see his boyfriend waking up, and he always loved when Steve felt safe enough to fall into a deep sleep that left him groggy when he was woken up. He knew the solider usually slept light and could be up and alert in seconds if needed. He’d seen it on missions. Groggy Steve was a trusting Steve. Tony loved that the tower made Steve feel safe. 

He giggled a bit. “Fall out of bed there? Looks like you rolled a bit too.” 

Steve was fully awake now and he was blushing. “Um…”

“It’s alright sweetheart. I will be watching the footage though. JARVIS, pull up the video of Steve falling out of bed. Adjust the lighting so I can see it clearly.”

“I’m sorry Sir, but I’m afraid I can’t-“

“-Why not? Has Steve bribed you to hide his embarrassing moments or something? Because let me tell you,I will definitely be hacking in and watching all of those videos.” 

“No, Mr. Rogers has done nothing of the sort. He did not fall from the bed so I don’t have any video of it.”

“What?” Tony squinted in confusion. Was he dreaming?

“Mr. Rogers chose to sleep on the floor of his own volition as he does every night.”

“Steve…sleeps on the floor?”

Now Steve was beet red. He used his hand to straighten his hair and push it back. “I do.”

“You don’t want to sleep with me?”

“No that’s not-“

“-Why didn’t you just go back to your own room? Do I snore? Do I move around too much in my sleep?”

“Tony, I-“

“-Why would you sleep on the floor while I was away then?”

“Tony, stop talking.” Steve raised his voice just enough to cut through Tony’s spiral. “I want to sleep with you. I like sleeping in the same room as you. You don’t snore and I don’t think you move around much. I would sleep on the floor in my own room anyway.” 

“Why?” Tony, even being a genius, couldn’t think of another reason why Steve would choose to sleep on the ground. He was out of ideas.

“I just…” Steve was blushing again. “The beds are too soft.”

“Okay. I guess if you sleep on your stomach soft mattresses aren’t the best, but you should have just told me. I’d get a harder one, or better yet, one of those beds that lets you customize each side. I though the mattress in your room was pretty hard though? The one time we slept there it seemed pretty stiff.”

Steve just watched as Tony rambled. When he was done, Steve shook his head. “It’s not really uncomfortable. I can nap on them, but they’re just too soft. It makes me anxious.”

“It makes you anxious?”

“Yeah. Back home Ma and I barely had mattresses, we were practically sleeping straight on the bed frame. During the war, we slept on the ground or worn down beds if we were lucky. When I woke up, I couldn’t sleep in these beds. The mattresses and bedding is so soft. It reminded me that I was in the future. That everyone I’d known was dead or near death. Now, I like the future, I’ve got new friends. The feeling of being out of control still creeps up though. I get flashbacks of the plane falling, of the icy water filling the plane.” 

Steve’s breathing hitched a little bit. “I just need to do something that reminds me of back then.”

Tony wrapped his arms around Steve. They stood in silence for a few minutes. 

“It’s fine if you still want to sleep on the floor: at least you’re getting enough sleep, but maybe I can help you sleep on the bed?”

Steve looked at Tony weirdly, “Tony I’ve already-“

“-you said you could nap, right? Why don’t we nap together for increasingly long periods of time? It’ll be during the day when it’s light out. What do you think?” Tony finished his offer.

Steve thought for a minute before nodding. “Okay, I can try. Thanks.”


	18. Mirror of Fear (Stucky)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team must confront their worst fears in Asgard. Steve's brings up one of Bucky's deepest insecurities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mentions of past child abuse
> 
> **The idea is from Harry Potter, but I won’t be using Harry Potter terms because I want everyone to be included, I can’t spell for shit already, and I haven’t read the HP books in years and I don’t want to mess up that canon (even though I screw with this one to fit my plots pretty often).

“It does what?” Clint turned toward Thor in disbelief.

“This is the Uggr Mirror, behind it lays the weapon that can control the monsters that have infested your world. In order to pass, you must conquer your innermost demon.” Thor explains for the second time, still not giving great detail about how or why this mirror is even a thing.

Tony sighs and smacks his forehead for the fifth time on this trip. “I hate magic.” Him, Clint, Steve, and Bucky has been taken by Thor to Asgard when monsters had appeared on earth. They weren’t a huge threat, but they lashed out because they were lost and confused. Thor has promised that getting some kind of magic item would allow them to convince the monsters to return home and ensure none of them made their way to Earth ever again.

“I shall go first.” Thor proclaimed as he stepped up to the mirror. His body was soon covered in a spiral of thin blue smoke. The smoke wafted out and the mirror began to glow. A creature that the rest of the team couldn’t recognize emerged through the frame. Thor froze for a moment before lunging at the thing. It jumped back and taunted him, showing him imagines of it killing his brother, then his mother and father, then ravaging his kingdom. Thor’s expressions became devastated for a millisecond before hardening into determination. He stabbed the creature with one powerful thrust and it retreated to the mirror, which glowed again, before revealing an empty frame which Thor stepped through.

“No time like the present.” Clint moves to take Thor’s spot. His fingers were nervously tapping against his thigh, but otherwise he had a battle stance on. The mirror flashed and a man staggered out. He clearly acted drunk. “DON’T HIDE FROM ME CLINT” the man screamed. He had a dark smirk on his face. “Barney can only cover for you for so long. In the real world you’re going to have to stop being such a pussy and man up.” Clint’s eyes went wide as he surveyed the scene. He gulped and dodged his father’s punch, but much slower than his usual reflexes would allow. When the man realized his punch hadn’t landed, he became angrier. He turned to the side and swung at apparently nothing, but just before the punch peaked, a woman appeared and she was hit square in the face. She tried to smile but her face was twitching. “Don’t worry about me Clint.” Clint closed his hands into fists, he wasn’t a child anymore. He wouldn’t let his father do this. Deftly, he pulled out an arrow and shot his father. He joined Thor on the other side.

“Do they really need all of us?” Tony asked nervously.

“I think they do or else Thor wouldn’t of brought us all to Asgard. I can go if you-“

“-Nope! I’m going!” Tony cut off Steve and sprinted to the mirror, he wanted to rip off the bandage.

In front of him was - a piece of paper? The others were puzzled but Tony went pale with recognized. A disembodied voice tainted him. “Tony Stark is the merchant of death. That’s all you’ll ever be. Your contract is signed in blood.” The writing went red and turned into a scene of the Avengers Tower where they all lived. There were missiles flying toward the tower with Stark written across the side. They were getting close. Pictures of all the Avengers, terrified and trapped in the tower popped up. Tony regained his composure and put on a smile reserved for media events he hated. “Making weapons is so not trendy anymore. You’re fifteen years too late to be making orders honey.” With that, the image disappeared.

Now it was Steve’s turn. He approached with perfect military posture, ready for any challenge. The mirror opened with a frosty gust of wind that gave Steve goosebumps. An unintimidating woman stepped out in weird shiny clothes. “Hello Steve Grant Rogers. Welcome to SHIELD 2.0. The year is 2206. You’ve been asleep for nearly two centuries.” Steve gasped and looked around the room in a panic. When he extended his arm to touch her, she morphed into Bucky. He grinned at Steve in a sickening way and opened his mouth to speak. Steve stiffened, and, knowing what the figure was about to say, forced himself to shut it up with a kiss. The mirror opened and he was greeted by the other three team members.

Bucky stood there, completely frozen. Steve was afraid of him? Of course he was, Bucky was a cold-blooded assassin. He nearly killed Steve when they met again. Even thought Steve assured him that it didn’t matter, and he helped Bucky with all of his nightmares and treatments, he must’ve still been traumatized. He’s terrified of me and I’ve been forcing him to stay around me. Bucky felt like crying. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from his hands, which appeared covered in blood to his eyes.

Eventually, he mustered up enough energy to drag himself to the mirror. He wasn’t surprised when he stepped out of the mirror as the Winter Solider. He stared at himself, at his long hair, muzzled mouth, and blank eyes. He watched himself kill innocent people and then turn to Steve. Mirror him was beating Steve up and his head was screaming for him to intervene but he couldn’t. Steve went limp on the ground. The grief and rage pushed Bucky to sock his mirror image and he was given access to the other world.

“Are you alright?” Steve asked worriedly when Bucky emerged. He had taken much longer than anyone else, and they all knew he had terrible demons. He stepped foreword to provide a comforting touch, but Bucky jerked back like he’d been burned.

Steve put his hands up. “I’ll give you your space.” The rest of the team shot him a concerned glance, but they continued on.

The mission was a success and the monsters were corralled. Steve was just coming out from a long, hot shower when he saw Bucky in his pajamas. Steve sat on the edge of the bed and waited for his lover to join him.

“Um, I wanted to sleep in my bedroom tonight actually.” Bucky said nervously.

Steve was a bit surprised, but he didn’t mind. Whatever made Bucky comfortable was good with him. He’d been acting strangely all day. “Alright.” Steve stood up and walked over to Bucky.

“Can I sleep alone?”

Steve stopped dead in his tracks. “Buck, you don’t need to ask permission to do anything, but can you tell me why?”

“I just don’t want to do this anymore.”

“What?”

“I’m not the same man you fell in love with. I don’t have all of my memories back and I’m not really in love with you without them.” It was a complete lie and it physically hurt Bucky to say it.

Steve’s face became devastated. He was silent for a while, before something else crossed over his features. “What happened in the mirror?”

“Nothing.”

“Bucky.” Steve’s sad puppy eyes were eating at Bucky’s resolve. He was the only one who could break through all the assassin training and coerce Bucky into revealing thoughts and emotions.

“You saw me. I was there among Thor’s family dying and Clint being abused and Tony killing everyone. Stevie, you can’t lie to me. The mirror proves that you’re scared of the monster I’ve become.”

Steve paused for a minute.

“Tony saw the missile going toward the tower. Our faces appeared, but he isn’t scared of us. He’s scared of us getting hurt. He’s scared of hurting other people. I’m not scared of you physically hurting me. I’m not scared of the Winter Solider. I’m scared that you’re going to leave me alone again, by choice or because you” Steve’s voice got small “because you get injured and I can’t save you. I knew if I waited a few more seconds, the train would appear and I couldn’t see you get killed again. You’re everything to me Buck.”

“But what if I turn into the Winter Solider. What if I relapse during a mission or while you’re asleep. Even when you’re awake you refuse to hurt me during my episodes.”

“Your episodes haven’t occurred for months. They’re shorter than ever. I could handle them when they were bad-“

“-because I was tied up.” Bucky interjected “You were watching for them constantly.”

“I love you Bucky. That isn’t changing. I don’t care that you’ve changed. I’ve changed too. Can I touch you?”

Bucky nodded and Steve wrapped him up in a hug. “We’re surrounded by superheroes who know what to do if something happens. They’ll protect me if it does. They’ll protect you if it does. You won’t hurt me.”

Steve sounded so sincere that it reverberated in Bucky’s core. Steve steered them to both lay on the bed. He curled so Bucky’s head was on his chest and he ran his fingers through Bucky’s short hair. “We can talk about this in the morning if you’d like, but for right now I’m tired and you’re tired. It’s been a long day. All you need to know is that I love you very much. I’m not leaving and we’re both safe.” Steve continued mumbling until Bucky’s breathing slowed and his eyes drifted shut.


	19. Hickey (Starker)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony makes some wrong assumptions about his lover’s bruises.

Peter winced as he slowly rubbed his neck. While he was distracted by evacuating an old woman from the bank, the robber had landed a solid punch. A large bruise was already starting to form. 

He decided he was done for the night and swung back to the tower, crawling into the large room he shared with Tony. It was empty, but that didn’t surprise Peter: Tony had been working on closing an important foreign business deal for the last week so his sleep schedule was even more wonky than usual. 

Peter checked his phone.

He smiled at the message from Tony and typed out a response before heading into the bathroom. The hot shower felt amazing on his sore muscles. He already could feel himself healing from the night’s injuries, but they still hurt. Once he was clean, he got into comfy lounge-wear and flopped on the bed. In minutes, he was fast asleep.

How can someone be so stupid? Tony thought crankily from his seat at the table. Him and Pepper, along with a few board members or advisors or something, were sitting across from a screen showing several other people in business attire. Pepper, as per usual, was doing most of the work. Their agreement was that he would do most of the behind the scenes engineering projects and act as a figurehead for interviews and such. Pepper handled the more business-related aspects of running the company. Case and point, her leading the conversations and negotiations at this incredibly boring meeting.

Tony drummed his fingers on the table. His mind was far away from the red head seriously reviewing a stack of papers in front of her and Pepper’s detailed explanations. His thoughts were in Fiji, planning a trip for him and Peter after this deal was struck. He saw a smile lighting up Peter’s face when he told him. He saw Peter excitedly dashing across a pristine beach into gentle waves. He saw Peter falling asleep with his head on his chest in a large sunbathing recliner. 

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony was snapped from his thoughts. The red head was looking at him expectantly. He glanced at Pepper who flashed an exasperated glance his way. She moved her hand to indicate that he just say yes, keeping the gesture hidden from the camera’s view.

“Sounds great!” 

Tony pulled his best fake smile and the woman seemed appeased. As soon as pleasantries were exchanged and the screen turned black, Tony jumped to his feet and sped-walked out of the room. He was a bit disappointed to see Peter hadn’t responded to his earlier message, but it was quickly overwhelmed by the happy anticipation of telling Peter about his plans.

He rushed into the room and flipped on the lights. Peter’s eyes squinted shut and he groaned as he adjusted his head away from the brightness. Tony dimmed them and checked his watch. It was really late. He should’ve checked beforehand.

Tony looked Peter over to make sure he hadn’t woken up when he noticed a dark spot on his lover’s neck.

Is that a hickey?

Tony couldn’t tear his eyes away, couldn’t bring himself to bring the room back to darkness. 

He laid down next to Peter, but he didn’t sleep for the whole night. When Peter awoke and flashed a lazy morning smile his way, Tony almost forgot about the mark. It had completely faded by now anyway. But he didn’t. The grin that used to brighten his day made him sick to his stomach.

Why had Peter cheated on him? Was it because he was too old? Had Peter found someone closer to his own age? 

“Are you alright?” Peter face stiffened In concern and he reached a hand out to feel Tony’s forehead. “I told you all of those late nights would make you sick.”

So was it the time he spent working? Was he spending too much time away? Tony didn’t even like working unless it was in the lab, which also meant spending time with Peter. Whenever Tony was in his lab, Peter usually followed. He would nap on the couch along the wall, work on his own project, or just sit in the corner with his own thoughts. 

“...I’m fine...just hungry” 

Peter didn’t look fully convinced, but he still got up to begin cooking breakfast. It was well known that Tony forgot to eat too often when work got stressful.

Tony just lay on his back, staring into the ceiling. He should leave. He knew he should leave. He shouldn’t stay with a partner who cheats. That was common sense.

But he couldn’t bring himself to leave. 

It must’ve been me. I’m the one who neglects him by working. I’m never as energetic or enthusiastic as he is. Peter was always good to me and I couldn’t do the same for him. I pushed him into someone else’s arms.

Tony vowed to do better, to be better and earn Peter’s affection back.

“Let’s go to Fiji.” Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, who was fixing a skillet of eggs. 

Peter beamed and turned to kiss Tony. “I would love that. When? Would you be able to take that much time off work? I know you’ve been busy-“

“-I can always make time for you. Let’s leave to night.” Tony hastily cut in.

Peter’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t say anything else. 

The next evening, they were dining in a resort in Fiji. 

“And there’s a beautiful hike near the water’s edge. Apparently it’s wonderful in the early morning, but I’m sure it’d be pretty any time of day.” Peter gushed over a guidebook.

“We should go at dawn.”

Peter glanced over the book in confusion. He was expecting a bit of banter. At least a sarcastic comment or two. Tony did not like hiking and he definitely did not like getting up early. He took what he could get though, maybe it was just the excitement from the trip. They explored the trail the next morning at dawn. 

After the hike, Peter was going to go for a swim. “I’ll be down by the beach for a bit.” He kissed Tony, who was stretched out in a hammock, exhausted from their morning hike, and made to move away.

Tony shot out of the hammock, scrambling a bit to catch his balance. “I want to swim too.”

“Alright! I’ll wait for you right here then.” Peter wasn’t expecting Tony to join, he seemed really tired, but he wasn’t complaining. 

Peter splashed in the waves and enjoyed the refreshing water, but he couldn’t help noticing Tony’s fatigue. “Do you want to go in and sunbathe?” 

“No, I’m fine.” 

“Well I want you to come sunbathe with me.” 

Peter headed toward the sand. He couldn’t tell what was bothering Tony and it was worrying him. Fortunately, Tony followed and he seemed content to cuddle up with Peter on their blanket. 

“Are you sick?” Peter shot up in bed, eyes wide and panicked. 

“Peter, you already checked me for a fever.”

“I know you don’t have a cold, but are you really sick? Like really, really sick?” Peter’s voice wobbled and his lip trembled. “Are you going to, are you gonna...”

“No, Peter. I’m healthy.”

“But you keep acting strange, and I don’t know...did I do something then?”

“Everything’s fine. I’m just trying to be a better boyfriend. I know I spend too much time at work and I’m not as young as you, but Peter please, I love you so much. I know that I pushed you away, but I promise I’ll do better.” 

“What?” Peter looked utterly lost. 

“I saw the hickey. I don’t know how long it’s been going on, but-“

“-What hickey?” 

“The day before we left.” Tony was staring down at the floor. He was ashamed at his rambling, terrified that Peter would reject him now that he knew, and upset that his actions only made Peter worry.

“I didn’t have any hickies that night.” 

“Don’t lie to me. I know what I saw.” Now Tony was furious. How dare Peter lie right to his face. 

“I swear. I’ve never cheated on you. I’ve never even thought about it. How could you even think that? Tony, I love you.” Peter reached out but pulled back immediately when Tony flinched away. Tears started streaming down his face.

Tony was speechless. When he did speak, his voice was soft and garbled. “But...the bruise...” He touched his neck. 

Peter’s eyes widened. “Karen. Show Tony the patrol from a few nights ago. I want the robbery.”

The clip of Peter getting punched in the neck played on the TV in their room.

Tony stared in shock.

“It wasn’t a hickey. Please believe me.” 

Tony’s eyes were red and shiny with the brimming of tears. 

Peter grabbed Tony’s hand, and Tony let him. “It was just a misunderstanding.”

“Mmhm. I love you Tony, more than I can ever show you, but I’ll keep trying. You’re perfect to me.” 

Peter peppered kisses along Tony’s jawline in between his words. 

“I need you to promise that if I ever did cheat, you’ll leave me, but other than that, you don’t need to promise me a thing. You don’t need to change. I love you just as you are.” 

And Tony knew he was telling the truth.


	20. Loved, Protected, Respected (Starker)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony finds out a dark part of Peter’s past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***Warning: Mentions of Past Sexual Abuse***
> 
> Request by Kittycatluver98: 
> 
> Could you do a Starker where someone has sexually assaulted (minor assault or not it's up to you) Peter in the past and Tony doesn't know but then he finds out when Peter freezes when someone makes a lewd comment. Then he does sweet things like making Peter hot chocolate, buying gifts, and always calling him sweet names like darling, honey, etc.

The restaurant wasn’t somewhere anyone in the world would expect Tony Stark to visit on his vacation. The outside was rundown and the inside was understaffed. It was located in the middle of nowhere, New Hampshire. 

Unlike everyone else, Peter knew Tony like the back of his hand. As soon as the man they’d met in the hotel started raving about this place, he’d known that Tony would insist on visiting. Apparently, they made the “greasiest, cheesiest, most-delicious burgers in the world” and who could resist that review? Tony had looked Peter in the eyes and without speaking, they’d both known they needed to make a stop on the way back home from the technology expo they’d been at. 

Peter was grateful for the fact that no one would suspect that Tony would stop-in at such a joint because it meant they had more privacy than usual. Tony was always good about choosing secluded spots for their dates because he knew the fans and paparazzi made Peter uncomfortable, but more often than not one or two super fans would find ways to sneak in. Tony hadn’t been noticed, or at least confronted, yet today so the boys got to enjoy some relaxing time together. 

They decided to go wash their hands in the restroom while they waited for their food as they chatted passionately about all the exciting technological advances they’d witnessed at the convention and all the possible improvements they could think of. They were getting particularly detailed about a cheap, algae based alternative to synthetic fibers as they headed past the bar and back to their seats. 

“Hey baby, buy you a drink?” 

Peter’s enhances hearing clearly picked up on the drunk man across the bar hitting on the much younger woman around the corner. 

She shook her head. “No thank you.” 

He tried to persuade her but when she politely refused a second time, he became angry.

“Slut.” He growled. “If you dress like that it’s clear that you want it. Don’t be a fucking tease. I was just being a gentleman but you bitches only want ‘bad boys’ anyway.” 

You’re such a slut. You say you don’t want this but just look how your body’s reacting - you want it, you want it so bad. Tell me how much you want me. Beg for it slut.

Peter froze on the spot. The air rushed out of his lungs and he couldn’t seem to manage to get enough back in. 

Tony was so invested in explaining his ideas that it took him a second to notice that Peter had stopped dead in his tracks. Once he noticed, he spun around to check for his boyfriend. Peter’s face was ashen and his eyes were panicky. Tony quickly followed his line of sight and noticed the bartender sternly lecturing a man on a stool and pointing toward the exit. There was a girl standing at the counter with a friend who seemed to be asking about her well-being. Tony could tell there had been a situation, but with security coming in, he could tell it was handled. He looked back to Peter. 

“I forgot something in the bathroom.” Peter spat out an excuse as he rushed back into the restroom. 

Tony ran after him, completely forgetting about the food or his desire to not make a scene and stay hidden. He pushed the bathroom door open just in time to see one of the stall doors swing shut. He could hear Peter’s shaky breathing on the other side and wanted desperately to be let in. 

“Peter? Peter are you okay?”

“M’fine.”

“...Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s nothing.” Peter started sniffling and tears began to roll down his cheeks. 

“Okay, you don’t have to talk about it. I just want you to know that I’m here if you need me for anything. I’m not leaving unless you want me to.” Tony did his best to try and keep his voice calm to hide his concern. 

“Thank you.” Peter’s voice was only barely audible. There was silence for a few minutes while Peter composed himself. When he exited the stall, there was only a slight tinge of red in his eyes to prove that anything had been amiss. 

Tony followed him out of the restroom. They sat down to eat a meal in silence except for Peter asking if the woman got out safely, which the bartender confirmed. The atmosphere was tense but Tony didn’t want to push Peter into talking. His need to know what happened clashed with his want for Peter to never have to remember whatever trauma it was again. 

The men got into the car and Peter took a deep breath. His face pinched up in a way Tony knew meant he was thinking hard about what to say. Tony took the liberty to drive them down the road a bit and to pull off to the side in a more private location to make it easier for his boyfriend to express himself. He waited patiently.

“So, what happened back in the bar.”

Tony nodded, but for as much as he wanted to hear this, he also needed to make sure Peter didn’t feel forced or obligated to share this private information. “I just want to let you know, you don’t need to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

“I know. I want to-I need to tell you though.”

Peter through the front windshield of the car. “When I was sixteen, I met this guy. I had gotten invited to a college party after one of my academic decathlon competitions and he was there. It was kinda a friend of a friend of a friend deal.” 

He picked at his fingernails. “To me, he was really cool you know. He was twenty-three and about to go to graduate school. He was really smart and he seemed really interested in everything I was saying. At the party we just talked about school and a robot I was building for a class project. He taught me how to play flip-cup. He asked for my number so we could hang out because I ‘seemed mature for my age.’” 

Peter stopped picking at his hands and just clasped them together, giving himself a moment before continuing. “He texted me. Asked if maybe I wanted to watch a movie at his apartment. He picked one of the ones I had mentioned I wanted to see. I said yes. It became a normal thing - we would hang out and watch movies or play games. He would buy me beers and stuff and we would just talk. I started to really trust him, you know? Then, one day I told him I was bisexual. I was only really out to May, MJ, Ned, and you at the time so it was a big deal to me.”

“He smiled and reassured me that it was totally alright. In fact, he was gay himself. He started talking about how he had been trying to ‘turn me gay for him’ but now he didn’t have to put in so much effort. Suddenly, he was kissing me. I tried to pull back because I wasn’t into him like that but he only pushed against me and made it stronger. I kept trying to lightly push against him to get him to stop, but I didn’t want to put myself as Spiderman. He kept saying things and then he grabbed my hand and made me touch him under his pants. I ended up punching him and running back home.” 

Tears were rolling down Peter’s cheeks agin. He was clearly struggling with the effort to keep his crying down and avoid sobbing. Tony’s hand was shaking. His mind was full of strong emotions. He actively suppressed his rage, not wanted to scare Peter in his vulnerable state, and focused on comforting Peter. 

He cautiously wrapped his lover in a hug, which was returned whole-heartedly. It seemed to do the trick for getting Peter to cut lose because he slumped against Tony’s chest and began to sob in earnest. “He...I told May...and she called the police...he’s a registered sex offender,... but he didn’t get ... get any jail time. Just a fine.” 

Tony had to force himself to stop his hand from making a fist while he mentally vowed to find the name of the man and have him blacklisted from everything he could think of. 

Tony let Peter cry it out, he murmured reassurances that it wasn’t Peter’s fault, because how could he think that, and that Peter had a great group of supportive people to help him get through this. He corrected Peter when he tried to say that he should be over this by now because it’s been over five years. He stopped Peter from apologizing for ruining the date and for getting tears all over his clothes. He promised that everything was okay and that he wasn’t leaving. 

Peter asked to use the bathroom again when he was finished so they pulled into a gas station, Tony shuddered a bit from the thought but Peter insisted a gas station bathroom was fine. While he was in there, Tony did a quick search on his phone and altered their hotel booking. He also popped in a different CD.

Peter opened the car door. “Are you sure you want to drive first? I can take that shift if you want to nap. We do have five hours to go before we get back to New York.” 

“I actually changed our hotel reservation. It’s in a cute little town about half an hour away.”

“But don’t you have work tomorrow morning? You won’t be able to make it if we don’t get back tonight.”

“Nah, they only wanted me for PR strategizing, which I’m not good at anyway. I decided to work from my laptop on Monday and Tuesday. C’mon and buckle up so we can get going.”

Peter slid the seatbelt over his chest while Tony started the car. He smiled when he heard one of his favorite Indie songs. “You aren’t going to change it? I thought everything that wasn’t heavy metal ‘literally damaged your eardrums’?” 

Tony shrugged. “Maybe it’s growing on me.” He still hated the song, but he would listen to that whole CD a billion times to keep the smile on Peter’s face. As they drove, Tony listened attentively to Peter describe his newest modifications in web technology and how his third year of college is going. “Apparently, I’ll be able to get my undergrad at the end of this year and then I’ll be able to start work on my PhD which is good because I’ll get paid to do that and...wait, are we here already?” 

“Yep, this is it. They’re coming to get our stuff.” 

“I only packed a backpack and my suit is hanging in the backseat, I don’t exactly need anyone to come and carry anything.” 

“We’re doing something else before we go to our room. Did you pack swim trunks?”

“Tony, it’s the middle of winter. I already get colder than normal because of these spider powers. Where and why exactly would I want to go swimming?” 

“No matter, I’ll buy you one. Let’s go.” Tony hopped out of the car and handed the keys to the valet. The bellhop handed him a heated blanket, as requested, and went to remove the luggage from the trunk. Tony opened Peter’s door and wrapped the heated blanket around his shoulders before they walked into the lobby together. Tony spoke to the receptionist and asked for a swimsuit in Peter’s size, which a staff member immediately set off to get. He then led Peter through the lavish halls and up the elevator of the luxury hotel and into a room marked ‘Spa’. 

By the time they’d gotten through the door and into the locker room, there was a knock and a swimsuit was brought in. Both men changed. 

“Is the pool heated?” 

“It’s not a pool it’s a large jacuzzi that’s modeled off thermal hot springs.” Tony opened the door to the spa to reveal a very large room taken up almost entirely by a steaming pool. There were several tastefully placed pillars in the center of the pool and various little pockets where you could sit and use the jets. The whole thing was encased in glass so you could see the whole city below. 

“Woah.” Peter beamed at the pool. “Can I go in?!” 

“Of course, why do you think I rented it out?” 

“You rented this whole thing out?” 

“Only the best for you darling.” 

The content smile as Peter slipped into the warm water was enough to warm Tony up all on its own. They spent the next two hours exploring the many features of the spa and just cuddling as they watched the city. 

“We have to get out. Just look at my hands - they’re all pruny.”

Tony groaned. “I think pruny could be the new trend. Let’s just live in here.” 

Peter playfully swatted his shoulder. “Only you would think you could make wrinkly hands into a fashion trend. Come on, I want to go see our room. Plus, I’m hungry.” 

“Honey, I’m only confident I could make it a trend because I’d have you model it for me.” 

Peter’s face flushed redder than the warm water had already made it. He moved to get out of the water and Tony followed suit. 

“Are you going to join me in the shower?” 

“Would I ever say no to that question? Just start running the water for me, would you?”

Peter smiled and went into the bathroom. Tony quickly ordered delivery service from a nearby five star Italian restaurant that was known for its carbonara - one of Peter’s favorite foods. Then he joined Peter in the shower.

They took an indulgently long shower. Tony massaged Peter’s scalp, shoulders, and back with rare shampoos and oils. He’d made sure the hotel prepared some specific ones that he knew wouldn’t overwhelm Peter’s senses. Peter did the same, carefully selecting the products he knew Tony enjoyed. When they were done, there was lotion and chapstick for them to use to rehydrate. 

Right on schedule, there was a knock on the door and two cartloads of food were brought in. 

“That’s too much food.” 

“I’ve seen how you eat with that spidey metabolism - I think this is the perfect amount.” Tony didn’t mention the fact that Peter had eaten way less than normal during lunch earlier. 

He pulled up a Star Wars movie as they ate. Peter cuddled up against Tony’s chest under their shared, fluffy blanket. 

Peter queuing up the next movie while Tony made hot chocolate. He made sure to add a tower of whipped cream to Peter’s. He brought them back and placed them on the coffee table as he situated himself under the blanket again. 

Peter clutched his hot chocolate with both hands and excitedly took a big gulp. He got some whipped cream on his nose which Tony got for him when he gave him a little peck. He reached for the remote and paused the movie.

“Thanks.” 

“For what?” 

“For everything. Thanks for listening to my issues and for getting this amazing hotel and for taking time off to spend with me.” 

“You don’t need to thank me for that stuff. For one, I’m a selfish man. I like seeing you happy so I’m really just indulging myself.” Peter rolled his eyes but let Tony continue. His tone became more serious. “I also want you to know that you can share anything with me. I know you’ve been through some shit. You’ve seen things that no one your age should ever have to see. Being an Avenger only adds to that. I’m so grateful that you trusted me enough to show me a vulnerable piece of yourself.” 

Peter stared directly into Tony’s eyes, as if searching for sincerity. He seemed to find solace in what he saw there because his face relaxed a little. Tony pushed on.

“I know I’m not always great at communication, but I’ll try to share as much as I can with you - not the stuff that you could just find online, but the real me. Sweetheart, I want you to be able to tell me if anything is ever bothering you.”

“Could I ask you something then?” Peter glanced away shyly.

“Always.”

“Do you-is it...are you upset that I haven’t, you know, ‘put out’ yet?” 

Tony was speechless for a second. He hadn’t realized that Peter was so insecure about taking their relationship slow. “Darling, I’ve loved every minute I’ve spent with you. It doesn’t matter to me when, or if, we start having sex.”

“But in your other relationships-“

Tony grimaced. He hated that the stupid decisions of his past could upset Peter. 

“Wait, I wasn’t trying to shame you or whatever. I just meant that you seem to have a preference for a more physical relationship.”

“Peter, those people were all one night stands. We had sex and split off because they weren’t interesting to me in other ways. You’re already so perfect to me without sex in the equation. I love so much more about you than I ever did them. The relationships are incomparable.” Tony reaches over to rub Peter’s cheek. 

“I believe you.”

“Good, because that’s the truth. I will never push you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with and don’t let some misconstrued idea of my ‘preferences’ make you feel obligated to do anything.” 

Peter smiled. Tony returned the smile, then yawned. “I think it’s time to hit the sack.” They fell asleep tangled in each other’s arms.

The next day consisted of a lazy morning and a road trip with several stops at cheesy tourist spots. Peter felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. Tony loved him - flaws and all. He only hoped to bring the same happiness and confidence in Tony that Tony did to him.


	21. Little (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve gets deserumed.

“Wait, Steve don’t-“ 

It was too late. Despite being their leader, Captain America was nearly as reckless, if not more, than the rest of his team. He touched the metal contraption that had fallen from Doom when Iron Man apprehended him. Immediately, he pulled his hand back like he’d been burnt. 

“Talk to me Cap.” 

“It’s fine. It just shocked me. The rest of you should steer clear though.” Steve was still staring intensely at the device on the ground, absentmindedly rubbing his arm. 

The team packed up and headed to the Quinjet, arguing over what to eat for dinner. Steve summarized the mission and sat down quietly in the corner, letting everyone else craft their arguments for pizza vs Thai. Tony sat down next to him and placed his hand over Steve’s, slowly rubbing circles on his wrist with his thumb. 

The team already knew Steve to be a bit reserved after a fight. The man had admitted to Tony that all the strategizing, assessing, and re-strategizing he did in his mind throughout a battle was mentally draining. Tony was the opposite. Unless they lost, he became slightly keyed-up for about an hour post-fight. He would ramble about anything and nothing at the same time, leg bouncing in his seat. 

And they fit together. Steve would silently listen to Tony, knowing he didn’t have to truly focus his mind and be attentive to what the other man was saying. Tony would talk, not expecting anything in return. 

As they approached the tower and Tony was coming off of his adrenaline buzz, he noticed something off. Steve’s eyes kept unfocusing and his hand was clutching his left side. 

“Hey, Steve. Did you get hurt?” Tony whispered, because for as worried as he was, he couldn’t think of any battle incidents that would’ve caused serious injury, and he knew Steve secretly hated medical. 

“No. It doesn’t hurt. I just feel a little strange - probably just tired and hungry.” 

“Aren’t we all.” Tony sighed as he grabbed his bag and stood up to exit the plane. “JARVIS eta on food?” 

—————

Right after he managed to shovel a whole pizza and several spring rolls into his stomach, Steve knocked out on his and Tony’s bed. It was a miracle he even managed to strip the suit and rinse off. He was out for about an hour before Tony joined him, maneuvering the super solider so he could cuddle against him. 

When Tony woke up, the digital clock by his bed read 7:00am. He closed his eyes and pulled the comforter higher over his body contentedly. His only plans that day were to sleep in till at least 10:00. He pulled Steve close to him as well.

Wait, Steve? 

Tony’s mind perked up as he had two simultaneous realizations. One, Steve should be out running: he never missed a morning run except on Sundays and when he was injured. Two, Steve was a much bigger, much warmer presence on the bed than the figure who was currently in Tony’s arms. 

“Natasha?” Tony poked at the person’s shoulder. He knew that guess was wrong, this person certainly was not built like the Black Widow, and Natasha didn’t do things like drunkenly crawl into the wrong bed, but it was the first thing that popped into his mind. She would be the only one even close to this size. 

“Mm. Tony?” The man slurred. 

Tony would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Steve’s. This did not look like Steve though. His brain was turning, trying to find a resolution for the cognitive dissonance between his conflicting observations. 

The figure turned around and pecked Tony lightly on the lips. “What’re you thinking about so early in the morning?” 

Seeing the face, something snapped in place. This was pre-serum Steve. Tony has seen one picture of his lover before he became Captain America and this is exactly what he looked like. 

“Wow, it’s late. I need to go for a -“ Steve pushed against the bed but his arm faltered a bit, unprepared to exert much strength. His eyebrows furrowed as he sat up in bed. He looked down at Tony and then at his own body. 

“What happened?” Steve seemed to jerk into total consciousness, feeling up his chest and arms. 

Tony was speechless. He kept staring at Steve. 

“It must’ve been that stupid Doom weapon.” Steve’s expression became frustrated. “I need to call up Bruce.” He turned his attention toward Tony, who was still trying to piece together what Steve was saying while he observed the man’s body.

“Yeah. Bruce. JARVIS?” 

—————-

Bruce took several blood samples and ran a few tests. He realized that the ‘electric current’ that Steve felt must’ve actually been him absorbing some molecules that was causing the serum to break down in his body. The language was complicated, but Steve got the gist of it. Tony seemed to be deep in thought - about what, Steve couldn’t tell and it was starting to become unsettling.

“As long as all the components of the serum are there. There should be a way for me to figure out what Doom infected your system with and develop a mechanism for separating it and pulling it out.” 

Steve and Tony nodded.

“It could take a few days or a couple of weeks, I’ll work as fast as I can.” 

Next, they called up Fury and met with the rest of the team in the living room. Steve was upset but understanding of the need for him to step down as Captain America for the time being. 

—————

“Are you going to say something?” 

Tony turned to look - down - at Steve. The younger man was picking at his hands and forcing himself to meet Tony’s gaze.

It was different than the face Steve had been wearing all morning. Ever since he discovered the situation, he’d had the patented Captain America Serious Face on. It surprisingly looked just as in place on skinny Steve as it would on Captain America. This wasn’t that confident facade though. This was insecurity in raw form. 

Tony’s stomach sunk a little as he realized his shocked silence and getting lost in his train of thought must’ve been nerve-wracking for Steve. The man was by no means vain, but going from the embodiment of physical human perfection to the opposite of that would be enough to cast doubts in any man’s mind.

Tony flashed Steve a smile and leaned down to passionately kiss him. “I was just trying to wrap my brain around this whole thing - trying to convince my brain that Doom’s bot only deserumed you and didn’t secretly injury you.” 

Steve grinned and Tony’s heart melted. “I’m free all day and your schedule just cleared up so I think I’ve got some plans for the both of us.” Tony started pushing Steve, who willingly complied, toward the bedroom. 

—————

After the morning fiasco, nothing was different. Tony convinced Steve to have a morning quickie with him and then headed to his workshop. Steve ran and got some groceries, excitedly marveling at how he didn’t get recognized, and then joined Tony, sketchbook in hand. 

“Could you hand me the screwdriver with the orange handle and all the adjustable top pieces.” 

“Sure.” Steve reached his arm toward the tool rack wall behind him. 

After a few moments of silence, Tony spun around in his chair. Steve hadn’t been too familiar with tools when he started hanging around the workspace, but nowadays he was able to pick out anything Tony needed. “Forgot what a screwdriver looks like?"

Steve was just staring at the rack. His eyes were skimming back and forth along the row of screwdrivers near the top. “Nope. It’s definitely one of these.” He gestured at the correct tools. “I think it’s either this one or this one, right?” 

Tony stared up at the mentioned screwdrivers. One was the one he was looking for, and the other was a green one that was roughly the same size. “The orange one.” 

Steve sighed. “I don’t know which one that is.” He squinted at the hardware. “Left or right?” 

“Right.” 

Steve reached up for the tool, but his hand fell a few inches short of the desired instrument. He tried again, on his tip-toes, but still wasn’t quite there. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Tony stood up and grabbed the tool himself. “Did you just say you didn’t know which one it is because you knew you couldn’t reach it?” Tony’s mouth snapped shut after his question slipped out. He was usually pretty blunt with Steve, but he still wasn’t quite sure if being small was a sore spot for the man or not.. 

Luckily, Steve didn’t seem to care. “No, I’m still getting used to being back in my body. I thought I was a bit taller, but I guess not.”

“Wait, so you actually didn’t know which one I asked for? Didn’t I say orange?”

At the same time, Bucky strolled into the workshop to borrow some oil for his arm. “‘Orange’ isn’t helpful to someone who’s colorblind. You’ve gotta use other descriptors.” He muttered absentmindedly, rifling through a drawer. “Hey, Stevie, Sam got you some of those vitamin pills. Apparently you don’t need liver anymore. Oh, and he’s got this-” Bucky moved his arms around his own waist “-It’s like one of those things we saw those ladies wearing in that painting we saw that one time.” 

“Sam bought me a corset?” 

“No, no it’s medical.” 

Tony was confused. “Why are you speaking so loud? Medical corsets and liver juice?” 

Steve added a few lines to his sketch and Bucky looked up at Tony with one eyebrow raised. His eyes widened as he turned back to Steve, “You didn’t tell him?” 

“I didn’t tell him what?”

“About all your ‘things’.” 

Steve glanced thoughtfully at his pencil. “I guess they never came up since I never had them around him.” 

“What ‘things’?”

“Stevie’s sicknesses. I’m speaking louder than normal because he’s kinda deaf, the ‘medical corset’ is for the scoliosis, and the vitamins replace the liver juice he used to drink because he was anemic. He also has stomach ulcers, heart problems, asthma, high blood pressure, and a generally shitty immune system. On top of all that, there’s the one thing that’s probably fatal.”

“What’s that?” Tony’s heart started pounding. That list of illnesses was daunting enough, what could make it worse? 

“A case of stupidity.” Bucky snickered and Steve smacked his shoulder.

“I must’ve gotten it from you then.” 

“Punk.”

“Besides that last one, do you need anything for those? Should I keep a physician here?” Tony was relieved that the last item was only a joke, but the all the other ones were worrying. “How’d you survive all these things during the Depression?” 

“That’s what the vitamins and the corset, I really need to figure out the actual name for that, is for.” 

“Maybe you should actually take him up on that offer - actually figure out everything wrong with you. We do have to keep you alive for at least until Bruce can figure the serum stuff out. You trying to put all that on me again?” Bucky’s voice was teasing.

“I feel like I did at least seventy percent of the work keeping myself alive.”

“SEVENTY? Are you kidding me? Minus twenty for all the bar fights. Another five for that time you broke your rib trying to climb the side of the porch even though it was covered in ice. Fifteen for eating out of the dumpster.”

“What is this Harry Potter? And that only leaves me with thirty percent.”

“Eight points to Stevie for being too stubborn to die.” 

Steve started laughing which quickly turned into a wheeze. Bucky immediately sat down and gently patted his friend’s shoulder, breathing slowly for Steve to mimic. The once his fit subsided, Steve leaned up against Bucky and continued sketching. Bucky grabbed a rag and oiled up his arm. 

It was so natural. Both men were so nonchalant about it. Steve even grinned at Tony before turning his attention back to the page. 

Tony was not calm. The logical part of his brain reasoned that Bucky had known Steve for much longer and had cared for him through all these injuries in the past. He knew that Steve had survived all this during the 30’s, and there were better medications and care available now - especially for someone with the financial means of a Stark. 

But the emotional side, the side that was currently winning, had other ideas. Tony was facing his work, but his mind was somewhere else. Black and white images of Steve suffering in a cold, cramped apartment followed by Steve coughing up blood and clutching his heart in the medical wing followed by terrible thing after terrible thing flooded his imagination. 

The full effect of Steve’s new condition hit Tony like a ton of bricks. Obviously, Tony knew the serum gave Steve superpowers that made him Captain America, but he’d still been thinking about the whole thing in a somewhat vain perspective. He’d considered that Steve might be insecure because of his shorter height and less muscular physique or that he might feel upset that he couldn’t fight villains anymore. He hadn’t considered the fact that Steve was changed internally. That deserumed Steve had to fight for his life on the daily. Steve was fragile.

Tony resolved to get the best doctor he could find to be on standby at all times. He also pulled up Steve’s file from before the serum and committed each disease to memory. 

—————

Tony cautiously sat down on the couch. He left a good six inches of space in between himself and Steve. Steve scooted closer. Tony scooted away. Steve sighed and pressed play on the remote. 

It’d been like this for three days now. Tony refused to touch Steve. It obviously had something to do with being deserumed and it was making Steve uneasy. He thought they’d already gotten over that: Tony clearly hadn’t had an issue with it the first day. 

Besides avoiding physical contact, Tony was acting especially attentive. Steve didn’t want to complain - having a boyfriend fuss over you and your every need wasn’t exactly the end of the world - but it was getting strange. Steve wasn’t even sick. Well, he was sick in some sense of the word, but only the same chronic illnesses he always lived with. He wasn’t injured or infected. 

Steve would wake up to Tony just staring at him from the edge of the bed. Tony kept trying to get him to nap and was constantly offering him soup. He appeared out of nowhere every time Steve so much as sighed when he shifted his weight. If Steve tried to lift anything more than fifteen pounds, Tony would wiggle in and take it from him. And then Tony would disappear, possibly after a conversation but nothing more. 

The movie was enjoyable. While Tony was distracted, Steve ended up making his way across the couch to cuddle. Afterwards, they talked and talked about nothing, just happy to be together. Then Steve laughed too hard and one breath came out as a wheeze. Tony stiffened up and immediately started carefully studying Steve’s face, looking for further signs of distress. Once he found none, he make up an excuse about work and left the room. 

Steve deflated. He’d been so close. It was obvious that Tony didn’t like the reminders that Steve was “sick”. Maybe when he had reassured Steve that he didn’t mind the deserumed incident, he hadn’t known about all the illnesses. Tony probably didn’t want to have to deal with a sick man. Steve couldn’t blame him for that. Bucky had spent so much time making sure Steve was cared for enough to stay alive and that meant the world to him. He probably wouldn’t be alive right now if it wasn’t for his best friend, but if Tony didn’t want to deal with that stuff, he obviously didn’t want to force it on him. Steve never wanted to be a burden. 

Tony strolled into his room and pulled up a screen of the living room he had just been sitting in. He never wanted to spy on Steve per say, but he wanted to check that his lover truly was alright - the man had a bad habit of forgetting the medications, vitamins, and inhaler that modern physicians insisted he needed. 

He wasn’t surprised to see Bucky on the couch too. Steve had shifted so that his legs were over Bucky’s lap and he was leaned against the arm rest. He looked tiny next to the super solider - it was hard to imagine that Steve with the serum was actually a bit bigger than his childhood friend. Tony felt relief that someone who knew what they were doing was taking care of Steve.

He also felt a little jealous. He’d always known how important Bucky was to Steve, and he was truly secure that they were never romantically interested in each other. He didn’t mind the cuddling either: he knew they cuddled for warmth and support and as a way to show platonic affection ever since they were children. He was jealous of Bucky’s experience with skinny Steve. The way the man could calmly react to anything Steve threw at him, from asthma attacks to dizziness to headaches to heart palpitations, was something Tony desperately wished he could do. He wanted to be the one to comfort Steve. He wanted to touch Steve more. He just didn’t want to hurt him. 

The boys seemed to be having a serious conversation, but the audio was off because Tony didn’t want to actually spy. When he looked up from something on his tablet, Bucky was jokingly punching Steve in the shoulder and the pair was doubled over in laughter. Eventually, after a tiny bit of roughhousing, Bucky got up and said something to Steve. He walked out looking determined. 

Tony heard knocked on the door and “Tony? It’s Bucky. I’m need to talk to you.” Without waiting for the door to open, Bucky strolled in.

“What if I was naked?” 

“Would you care?”

“Probably not, it’s the principle of the thing though. Anyway, something up with your arm?” 

“Not today. I actually came to talk to you about Steve.” 

Tony’s mouth felt dry. What would Bucky need to say about Steve? 

“I guess I’ll dive right in. He thinks you don’t like him.” Bucky glared at Tony. “Things don’t always work out and that’s fine - I’m not going to threaten to kill you or anything if your relationship falls apart. I AM going to hurt you if you keep dragging it out and unnecessarily hurting him.” 

“Also,” Bucky clenched his fist, “this is Steve whether you like it or not. He might be America’s sweetheart when he’s got the serum, but he’s so much more than the serum so if you don’t love him without it then you honestly don’t love him with it. I won’t hold back if you treat him like garbage while he’s like this and then do a 180° as soon as Bruce reverses the issue.”

Tony stared at Bucky with wide eyes. His expression was so shocked that Bucky realized immediately that he had misread something.

“I love Steve. I love him in any form he’s in. He thinks I don’t...”

“Well, you have been avoiding him.”

“But I told him that I loved him in his natural body.”

“And as soon as he coughed, you ran for the hills. Actions speak louder than words. Why the hell are you doing this to him if you love him?” 

“I-I...” 

“I have superhuman hearing and I can’t even hear what you’re mumbling.” 

“I didn’t want to hurt him.”

Bucky snorted. “Hurt him?” 

“Yeah, he’s just so frail like this.”

“Frail? Stevie? He lived for nearly two decades like this. He survived poverty, rationing, a war, and a million bar fights like this. You kissing him isn’t going to do shit. Jeez, both of you are idiots sometimes. Go make up with him.” 

—————

Tony and Steve were as affectionate as ever since the afternoon when Bucky set stony straight. Bruce was just on the verge of a breakthrough in bringing back Captain America. 

“You should be more careful.” 

“It’s just a nick, you really don’t need to.” 

Tony sighed and pulled out the first aid kit. Steve had sliced his finger chopping vegetables and Tony wanted to make sure it didn’t get infected. Steve sat compliantly in the chair: Tony would’ve, and has, done this if he cut his finger while he was super so it wasn’t special coddling. It was normal coddling. 

Tony grabbed a glove to make sure his hand was sanitary more than to keep Steve’s blood off him and grabbed an antiseptic. He began treating the wound. After a minute, Steve frantically tapped Tony’s shoulder. 

“What’s up?”

“I think I need to go to a doctor.”

Tony grinned, thinking Steve was teasing him about the slightly excessive reaction to a tiny cut. 

“Really soon. It’s getting hard to breath and my tongue feels to big and my throat is...” Steve sounded weird. His cheeks looked puffed up. 

Tony’s heart started pounding in his chest. He picked Steve up and called out for JARVIS to prepare doctors in the medical wing. Once he got in, he left the work to the professionals, not wanting to interfere with Steve’s standard of care.

He paced in the corner of the room as they administered another shot. A nurse explained to him that Steve was having a severe allergic reaction. Tony felt awful as Steve threw up his lunch. 

Bucky came in a few seconds later, called by JARVIS, “Is he alright? His allergic reactions aren’t usually this severe.”

“He had allergies?”

“I’m not really sure.” Bucky scratched his head. He replaced the bucket near Steve’s head with a clean one and rubbed Steve’s back. Tony cringed for not thinking of that. “We didn’t exactly get tested for that kind of thing, but he usually got a rash around cats and he got sick that one time we ate shrimp. Granted, we were around feral cats and the shrimp we only got because it was old so it might not be allergies. This is definitely a reaction - what’d he eat?”

“He had a peanut butter sandwich about three hours ago but that wouldn’t cause anything. We were just...” Tony explained the story. He still had the antiseptic wrapper in his pocket and one glove on. The nurse straightened up as she got an idea. 

“It was probably latex or chlorohexidine. Usually reactions aren’t this severe, but considering he’s probably never been exposed before...”

Tony’s gut twisted as hot guilt filled his body. This was his fault. He failed at caring for his lover. He turned a harmless cut into a life threatening injury. Steve looked so pale lying on the bed. He couldn’t be hurling like that, he was too thin as it stood. Tony felt like throwing up himself. He pulled a chair up to the side of the bed, reaching for Steve’s hand.

Steve squeezed Tony’s hand, attempting to reassure him. His grip was extremely weak. Panic just surged up and through Tony again. 

“Not your fault.” Steve told him. The swelling was already going down and except for the occasional cough, which sent dread down Tony’s spine, he was breathing normally. 

“Hey, I’m serious. This is not your fault.”

“Bucky is so much better than me at this though, he wouldn’t have-“

“-Bucky wouldn’t have know any better either. I didn’t come into contact with latex or whatever that chemical was before. No one would know.”

“Plus, Bucky isn’t perfect. When he first started helping me with things, he made mistakes too. Don’t expect to know everything about me when I’ve only been like this around you for four or five days. Come here.”

Steve pulled at Tony’s shirt. Tony leaned back, but Steve was persistent. “I’m fine now. It was just an allergic reaction. Calm down and climb into bed with me.” 

As soon as Tony laid on the cot, Steve curled up against his chest. “I don’t care about the mistakes. I’m going to take my time learning about you, hopefully you want to do the same with me.”


	22. Worried (Stony)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony accidentally pushes Steve away.

Tony’s head swam. Everything was foggy. The vintage looking coffeeshop sign started to blur just a bit. 

He walked back outside clutching a styrofoam cup. “Got my coffee. What’s next on the agenda?”

Happy’s frown deepened slightly. He’d noticed the genius’s ashen skin and dazed look since earlier in the morning. After the meeting with a large investor, Happy had suggested that Tony stop home and rest until the video chat with foreign partners that evening. Tony had stubbornly refused and insisted that he just needed a bit of coffee to perk up. Happy wasn’t buying it, but Tony was pointedly ignoring any more concern from his driver. 

“Take me to the lot near the lab facilities in the Stark Industries building."

Happy rolled up the partition and sighed, taking his boss to the place where he would inevitably spend the next several hours inventing new technology for his company. 

As Tony stepped out of the vehicle to enter the codes to enter the building, he admitted to himself that the coffee was not doing anything. Even pushing the keypad felt like it took monumental effort. He flashed a fake smile at Happy to reassure him and walked inside. Tony knew he was sick, he wasn’t stupid, but it wasn’t unmanageable yet and there were things to get done. 

He sat down on a stool and grabbed for a wrench. His hand missed. He turned his head to look at his tool rack, immediately feeling dizzy with the motion. He tried again to reach the metal, but it seemed to drift further and further away from his hand, almost in slow motion. 

\----------

“Tony?” 

Tony felt himself moan a little and squeezed his eyes shut further. “M’ tired.”

“Tony, you need to wake up. Can you do that?”

Who was that? Oh yeah, Pepper. What was she doing here? Am I moving? 

Tony opened his eyes, but regretted it as soon as the bright lights were visible. He groggily realized that he was surrounded by people. There was Pepper and what seemed like three paramedics. He was moving. They had him on a gurney. He opened his mouth to complain, but there was a plastic mask on his face. When he tried to rip that off, Pepper stopped him.

“Tony, you passed out. Happy called me and asked to check up on you since you weren’t feeling well. We found you on the floor of your workshop.” 

“My name is Emma, and I’m going to ask you a few questions, alright?”

Tony gave a weak nod.

“Who’s the President?” 

“Steve?” Tony suddenly jolted, trying to sit up. 

The paramedics face twisted in concern, but Pepper seemed to realize that the genius had ignored the question and talked gently to him. 

“He’s going to meet us at the hospital. You need to answer her questions.” 

Tony was complacent with that. 

—————

When they arrived at the hospital, Steve was pacing around the ambulance docking bay. He quickly strode over to the gurney as they wheeled Tony into a room. 

Tony immediately recognized the terrified expression on Steve’s face, and tried to break the tension with a joke. It fell flat. 

Within the hour, professionals had ruled Tony’s incident as a product of exhaustion. He hadn’t slept normally in days and he was running a high fever. Everyone was just relieved that it hadn’t been an irreversible heart problem. 

By that time, Tony had completely come around, and was doing his best to cause a scene and leave the hospital. “The tower has perfectly good doctors. Brucie will check in on me. I’m fine. It was just tiredness anyway.” He was a bit embarrassed about the whole ordeal. He was Ironman for God’s sake. He fought aliens and robots and literal gods, but being tired was what took him down? He already hated the signs of aging he saw in himself, but this took the cake. 

“I just want to go home.” He said a bit softer. 

Steve and Pepper’s expressions softened. They shared a meaningful look. 

—————

“Do you need anything else? More pillows? Something else to drink?”

Tony batted Steve’s hand away from the mountain of pillows on the bed. “I’m not a child. All I need is you lying next to me so I can get some sleep.”

Steve happily complied, laying down next to Tony and wrapping his arms around the smaller man’s waist to pull him in close. Tony nuzzled up against Steve’s chest. It was definitely the best way to end the night. 

“Steve?”

“Mmhm”

“Since you’ll be up early tomorrow, can you make sure I’m awake before seven. I have that meeting in the morning.”

“No you don’t. I cancelled it. Just sleep in.” Steve’s voice was calm and nonchalant. Tony felt anything but.

“You did what!? You had no right to do that. That meeting was extremely important for the financial subdivision of the marketing department.You can’t just go around and mess with my company.”

“Tony. Stop being dramatic. I asked Pepper and she said it was fine. She’ll reschedule everything you had tomorrow so you can take the day off and rest,” 

“No. You don’t get to make that decision for me. It’s my job and thousands of people rely on me to keep their jobs. I can’t just cancel everything. What am I going to do about-“

“-Tony just-“

“NO. This was none of your business. You can give or take orders, but you have no idea how business or technology works, especially in the 1940’s. Listen up old man, the market is globalized now. I need to be available twenty four hours a day to keep up with the internet and all the different time zones.” 

Tony felt slightly guilty when he saw the hurt look in Steve’s eyes, but his rage far outweighed it. 

“I’m just going to go and-“ Steve moved to give Tony some space so they could both get some time to cool off.

“Yeah, you do that.”

Steve left the room.

\---------

In the morning, Tony had walked in on Steve cooking eggs. The younger man shot him a strained smile and tilted the skillet in his direction, offering up a serving. Tony glared and snatched a piece of toast. 

Steve knew how important his work was. He knew what it was like to need to push past the pain for a bigger goal. He had no right to tell Tony what his limits should be. It wasn’t like he was seriously ill. He was just tired. Just because he wasn’t a super solider didn’t mean he needed to be coddled.

Tony didn’t even notice Steve’s phone vibrating as he left. 

—————

It had been nine hours since Tony went down to his workshop. He knew it was petty, but the decision was more to piss off Steve than anything else. As soon as he’d gotten there, he’d fallen asleep on the luxurious couch against the wall. He did not want to go through the horrifying ordeal of fainting again. 

But when he woke up, he noticed his clock read  5:00 in big red font. He hadn’t been expecting an apologize, Steve was very stubborn, but he’d thought Steve would come down at least once to chastise him or try and get him into bed. 

His anger had finally deflated, and he was feeling a bit sad that Steve hadn’t checked up on him. 

Tony made his way to the kitchen and ate a quick dinner. He watched some TV in the living room. He even altered his route to walk past the gym on his way to his room. There was still no sign of Steve. 

Tony was getting grumpy. Steve was the one who always promoted ‘good conversation’ after an argument. Tony was the childish one who hid. It was their dynamic.

When he reached the bedroom, he immediately noticed a piece of paper on the bed.  Steve . Tony felt relieved. Steve was the only one who left paper notes instead of asking JARVIS to convey a message. 

His stomach sank as he read the note. 

“Fury called me in for Mission Green Water again. I’ve decided to go. See you when I can. Love, Steve.”

He recognized that mission name. Only a few months ago, Steve had been complaining about it. He called it “tedious” and “unnecessarily long”. They didn’t really need Steve there, it was a slow-moving mission more suited to snipers like Bucky or Clint, but he’d still be good back-up. Steve has refused. He didn’t want to be gone for the week that it would take when it was understood that he wasn’t really needed. 

But Steve had decided to leave.

Tony laid alone in a cold bed, never falling asleep. 

————

Tony hemmed and hawed for three days. He was restless for two more. Even the work on his suit wasn’t entertaining him like it usually would.

Steve hadn’t called.

It was understood that you never called an agent in the field. Protocol usually dictated that you wouldn’t be able to as the agents would all only carry their one time use burner phones. Tony could easily hack the system, but he didn’t because he didn’t want to risk putting Steve in danger.

Also, Steve usually called whenever he could. But he hadn’t this time. There had been radio silence. 

Tony’s fingernails were stubby and jagged. He nearly grabbed the phone from Natasha’s hand when she picked up a call from Clint and Steve was in the background. A death glare along with a promise that she’d let him talk to Steve after persuaded him to give her some privacy.

Fifteen minutes later, she came back and handed the phone to him. “...Hi Steve.” He hated how nervous his voice sounded.

Steve looked like he was about to say something, but swallowed his words and instead settled on “Hi Tony.” 

It was unnatural and it made Tony feel sick. 

“How’s the mission going?”

“Good. We’ll probably be home in the next couple of days. How’s the tower?”

“Good. Nat and Bruce and I are holding down the fort.”

Steve’s eyes studied the screen, presumably looking for bags under Tony’s eyes. He seemed to relax with the realization that Tony had been sleeping, but didn’t say anything further. 

They were both silent for a few moments before both Steve began to speak up again. Tony braced himself, trying to ignore the sadness that washed over the man’s features. 

“Tony, I-“ 

He was cut off by the sound of gunfire. Steve quickly grabbed his shield and turned off the video. 

Tony was left speechless as he stared at the black screen. What was Steve about to say? Why did he look so upset? 

He was trying to piece together the puzzle in his mind. Since the end of their argument, he’d been expecting a stubborn apology. He had not expected for Steve to act unexpectedly petty. Granted, he could be pretty childish, but Steve didn’t usually pull stuff like this after fights. He hadn’t expected Steve to leave. He hadn’t expected the silence. Tony has definitely not expected the sad look on his lover’s face. 

They didn’t fight a lot, but they definitely fought. Sometimes it was small banter, sometimes it cut too deep, but they always had their ways of making up.

This was not their usual.

—————

Tony busted through the double doors into the hallway. He rushed into the second door on the right. 

Three heads rose at his noisy entrance. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” 

Steve’s face contorted for a split second at Tony’s harsh tone. Then his face split into a huge grin. 

“What? Don’t make that face. You were just shot three times for having the stupid idea of turning yourself into a fucking human shield.”

Bruce seemed confused, but Steve patted his arm reassuringly. Natasha didn’t care too much and pulled Bruce out with her as she left the hospital room. 

Tony started to lecture again, but was cut off when Steve wrapped him into a warm embrace. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Sit back down. You’re going to pull your stitches.” Tony was speaking in an angry tone, but he gently guided Steve back to the bed. 

Steve continued smiling like a fool. 

“Are you going to tell me what has you so happy right now? Because I’m not seeing anything funny, and I know we don’t have any pain killers that can affect you this way.”

“You were worried about me.”

“Of course I was, you fool. You went out and got yourself injured for stupid reasons, again, and the last thing I saw was you grabbing your shield and there were guns and...” Tony’s voice tapered off and his eyes filled.

Steve stopped grinning and slowly rubbed Tony’s upper back in a comforting way. They stayed like that for a while before Tony broke the silence.

“You were happy that I worried?”

“That you cared enough to worry.”

Tony contemplated this. “I think it’s pretty obvious that I care. I am dating you.” 

“Yeah, but…”

Tony looked deeply into Steve’s eyes, encouraging him to continue. 

“You seemed pretty upset when I rearranged your meetings.”

“Duh” Tony regretted the exclamation as soon as it left his mouth. He still thought Steve was in the wrong, but he didn’t want to pick an argument. He especially did not like the way Steve flinched. 

Steve ignored the comment and pushed on. “And you kept saying that I had no right to worry about you. You also brought up how I wasn’t as smart as you and I…Tony it’s obviously my job to worry about you. I’m your boyfriend for Christ’s sake. I thought you were just starting to edge me out of your life. Maybe you just weren’t that into me anymore and my emotions were burdening you.”

“Steve, what?” Tony stared at his boyfriend in shock. “I literally always brush you off when I’m injured. It’s just what I do.”

“You were really mad this time though. Even the next morning. And you didn’t just call me a mother hen, you said that I wasn’t-” 

“-I didn’t mean it that way. I still love you very much Steve. All your little stints, this one included, have given me first-hand experience with what it’s like to worry about someone you love. I know it must’ve been scary for you to hear that I’d passed out, and I’m sorry for lashing out. I just didn’t like how I wasn’t consulted in your decision. You might never hear this again but you were probably right. I couldn’t have handled another day of meetings. I just hate that I feel so weak. Even though I’m only human, you don’t need to coddle me.”

“Tony. I care for Thor and Bucky and Peter when they’re hurt too. Your brilliance and charisma make you a very important part of the Avengers team. I don’t think you’re weak. I just know, first hand, that healing is better with someone by your side.” Steve leaned in to kiss Tony. “I’m still going to worry though.”

“As long as it means you care.”


	23. Temporary Conclusion

Hi, guys!

I hope most of you enjoyed this work! I know my posting slowed down immensely as the summer came to an end but what can I say? That’s school for you guys. I hope to continue this in a similar fashion to my Another Avengers Fanfiction Archive series where it will be the same format of twenty something chapters that each consist of one stand alone one shot. It’s just a personal structural preference of mine.

In the meantime, feel free to send in requests or check out my other works:

[Another Avengers Fanfiction Archive](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19889554/chapters/47108824)  
[Another Avengers Fanfiction Archive (Two)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20249125/chapters/47991889)  
And [Avengers Family](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20249221/chapters/47992078)

Also, just a warning but for those of you who let me know you found these one shots disgusting, my next work probably won’t be any different so maybe don’t read those. Or do, I won’t tell you what to do.

Love you guys!!

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re looking for something else, I also have: 
> 
> Another Avengers Fanfiction Archive - A collection of unrelated oneshots between the reader and various marvel heroes.
> 
> Another Avengers Fanfiction Archive (Two) - A continuation of Another Avengers Fanfiction Archive. The oneshots are still unrelated so reading the first one before is not necessary. 
> 
> Avengers Family - Platonic oneshots with the Avengers acting as one large family. 
> 
> They’re all open for requests!


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